Xian said that the study’s findings should be motivation for more hospitals to make the improvements necessary to get certified as stroke centers, and for policymakers to promote the designation of more stroke centers across the U.S.

In the entire country, about 700 out of 5,000 acute care hospitals are certified stroke centers.

Before stroke centers became designated as such, Xian said, some hospitals “were already doing well and they got certified so people can recognize their quality of care. For hospitals that weren’t doing that well in the past, the certification gives them an opportunity to improve.”

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, online January 25, 2011.