Virginia Acute Stroke Telehealth (VAST) Network

The Virginia Telehealth Network (VTN) worked to support the initial design, development, testing and evaluation of a model stroke network across the Central Shenandoah region.

Sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy and funded by a grant issued by the National Office of Rural Health Policy, the primary objective of this initiative was to improve the availability and use of health information technology within Critical Access Hospitals and the regional hospitals that support them in efforts to improve the health outcomes of rural populations—specifically as it relates to the prevention and treatment of stroke and related co-morbidities.

At the federal level, this grant program is known as the Critical Access Hospital-Health Information Technology Grant (CAH-HIT) program. At the state level, this project was considered Phase 1 of a larger statewide stroke initiative entitled the Virginia Acute Stroke Telehealth Network or VAST.

As part of the VAST initiative, Bath Community Hospital (a Critical Access Hospital), worked with the University of Virginia, Rockingham Memorial and Augusta Medical Center to identify, understand and analyze stroke systems of care from a regional viewpoint. The process identified problems and/or weaknesses across the entire stroke continuum of care and formulated interventions that combine clinical best practices with health information technologies (HIT) to enhance the quality and timeliness of stroke care.

This project laid the foundation for an integrated stroke network for the Central Shenandoah region—not only in support of Bath Community Hospital and its rural population—but for all Virginians residing across this region. Further, this demonstration produced valuable tools and methods that will serve as a blueprint for statewide implementation.

Assessing patients from afar – Dr. Nina Solenski (on robot screen) assists her UVA stroke team colleagues, Dr. Bradford Worrall and Dr. Karen Johnston, assess a patient. Dr. Solenski is Assistant Professor of Neurology, Dr. Worrall is Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology and Dr. Johnston is Chair of the Department of Neurology at UVA.

(Photo Provided Courtesy of Nina Solenski, M.D. The Stroke Center
Stroke Telemedicine & Tele-education Program Director)