On October 22, 2024, Adventist Health and Rideout (AHRO) in Marysville, California, announced a significant reduction in the time required to transfer stroke patients to specialized care through the implementation of an artificial intelligence tool, Viz.ai. The hospital reported that the average door-in-door-out time decreased from 202 minutes in 2023 to 109 minutes.
This metric, crucial for stroke care, measures the duration it takes for a patient to be transferred from one facility to another. AHRO's Chief Medical Officer, Alexander Heard, noted that the AI technology has nearly halved the transfer times, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
Viz.ai facilitates care coordination by quickly analyzing patients' CT scans and alerting medical teams of potential strokes. The tool sends notifications to vascular neurologists, enabling timely decisions regarding patient transfers to UC Davis Health's Comprehensive Stroke Center for advanced treatment.
The technology has been operational since May 2024 and has already been utilized for ten large vessel occlusion stroke patients. In the previous year, AHRO recorded 517 emergency department stroke alerts, indicating the potential for the AI tool to enhance the efficiency of multidisciplinary care across hospitals.
Stroke care regionalization is vital, as every minute impacts a patient's recovery and quality of life. The collaboration between UC Davis Health and AHRO, supported by Viz.ai, aims to save lives by ensuring that stroke patients receive timely interventions.