Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times

JAMA Internal Medicine
Kimon Bekelis, MD; Nancy J. Marth, MS, MSN; Kendrew Wong, BS; Weiping Zhou, MS; John D. Birkmeyer, MD; Jonathan Skinner, PhD

Physicians often must decide whether to treat patients with acute stroke locally or refer them to a more distant Primary Stroke Center (PSC). There is little evidence on how much the increased risk of prolonged travel time offsets benefits of a specialized PSC care.