Healthcare resource availability,quality of care,and acute ischemic stroke outcomes

Background-healthcare resources vary geographically,but associations between hospital-based resources and acute stroke quality and outcomes remain unclear. methods and results-using get with the guidelines-stroke and dartmouth atlas of health care data,we examined associations between healthcare resource availability,stroke care,and outcomes. we categorized hospital referral regions with high-,medium-,or low-resource levels based on the 2006 national per-capita availability median of 6 relevant acute stroke care resources. using multivariable logistic regression,we examined healthcare resource level and in-hospital quality and outcomes. of 1 480 308 admitted ischemic stroke patients (2006-2013),28.8% were hospitalized in low-,44.4% in medium-,and 26.9% in high-resource hospital referral regions. quality-of-care/timeliness metrics,adjusted length of stay,and in-hospital mortality were similar across all resource levels. conclusions-significant variation exists in regional availability of healthcare resources for acute ischemic stroke treatment,yet among get with the guidelines-stroke hospitals,quality of care and in-hospital outcomes did not differ by regional resource availability. © 2017 the authors.