Emergency department utilization after hospitalization discharge for acute stroke: The COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) study.

Abstract

Each year nearly 800,000 people in the US experience a stroke.1 Those that survive are at high risk for complications after hospital discharge. Providing appropriate care during the recovery from this complex condition is a challenge for patients, caregivers, and health care providers. Understanding Emergency Department (ED) utilization after a stroke may provide insights into long-term management of stroke, inform interventions, improve patient outcomes, and reduce medical costs. A comprehensive transitional care model for post-acute stroke care may influence the need to seek ED care for downstream events after a stroke. To date, most transitional care trials exploring post-stroke healthcare utilization were conducted outside of the US health care system.2 We examined data from the Comprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) study, a cluster-randomized pragmatic trial of a post-discharge transitional care model for stroke survivors and their caregivers compared with usual care.3,4.