§321-532 Stroke system of care; department duties. (a) The department shall participate in a systematic process to evaluate, improve, and sustain stroke care throughout the State to reduce death and disability from stroke. The stroke system of care shall include:

(1) The requirement that hospitals meet specific stroke patient treatment capabilities that will ensure that stroke patients receive safe and effective care;

(2) The coordination with the State's emergency medical services system to ensure that stroke patients are quickly identified, transported to, and treated in facilities that have specialized programs for providing timely and effective treatment for stroke patients to improve outcomes; and

(3) The continuation of a statewide stroke coalition to provide a mechanism to evaluate and improve stroke care in the State.

(b) The department shall participate in the stroke coalition to:

(1) Provide agreed upon state level reports of de-identified and aggregated data to the stroke coalition, government agencies, hospitals, researchers, and other interested parties that have a role in improving stroke care;

(2) Analyze data generated by the stroke database to identify potential interventions to improve stroke response and treatment;

(3) Identify issues related to early identification, triage, treatment, and transport of possible acute stroke patients;

(4) Encourage sharing of information and data among health care providers on ways to improve the quality of care of stroke patients in the State; and

(5) Develop and implement strategies to improve stroke early identification and treatment, including identifying specific hospital capabilities to receive, treat, and transfer stroke patients. [L 2015, c 211, pt of §2]