US congressional legislation introduced earlier this week has been welcomed and applauded by the American Heart Association (AHA), which notes in a press release that this legislation—the Stroke Act—would improve the quality of stroke care for patients across the country by supporting research, establishing a national stroke registry, strengthening systems of care, improving access to rehabilitation and recovery services, and expanding public education and prevention efforts.
US senator and stroke survivor Ben Ray Luján, along with 10 other senators, introduced the Stroke Act on 5 August. The AHA and the American Stroke Association (ASA)—a division of the AHA—are now urging congress in the USA to quickly advance this legislation, which the association says would help improve outcomes for people affected by stroke nationwide.
“This legislation would increase our understanding of stroke care, improve the quality of stroke treatment delivered to communities nationwide and ultimately save lives,” said AHA chief executive officer (CEO) Nancy Brown. “Someone dies of a stroke every three minutes and 14 seconds in the USA, yet many strokes can be prevented, and recognising the warning signs can help save lives. We thank Senator Luján for turning his personal experience with stroke into action by championing this legislation.”
According to the AHA, the Stroke Act would support research to improve stroke care delivery, identify gaps in prevention and treatment, establish a national stroke registry, and strengthen coordination across the continuum of care—from emergency response through rehabilitation and recovery. The legislation authorises federal investments in research, data collection, systems improvement and public education to help ensure more patients receive timely, evidence-based care, the AHA adds.
More specifically, the AHA continues, the bill would support training for emergency medical personnel and healthcare providers, improve care coordination after stroke, and expand the use of telestroke technologies that connect patients to specialised stroke expertise “regardless of geography”. The legislation also seeks to build on existing infrastructure by requiring the national stroke registry to leverage established systems rather than create a duplicative new reporting framework.
The AHA further notes that this approach aligns closely with its own Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality improvement programme, which collects standardised stroke care and outcomes data, supports quality improvement and benchmarking, and engages a broad network of stroke centres and hospitals across the USA.
