Emergency medical services routing of patients with acute stroke to designated centers may increase the proportion of patients receiving care at facilities meeting national standards and augment recruitment for prehospital stroke research.
Methods—We analyzed consecutive patients enrolled within 2 hours of symptom onset in a prehospital stroke trial, before and after regional Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services implementation of preferentially routing patients with acute stroke to approved stroke centers (ASCs). From January 2005 to mid-November 2009, patients were transported to the nearest emergency department, whereas from mid-November 2009 to December 2012, patients were preferentially transported to first 9, and eventually 29, ASCs.