Buffalo hospital saves $750,000 & improves outcomes with CT stroke workup

Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. has reported improved patient outcomes, shortened lengths of stay and annual savings of $750,000 after switching from x-ray and MRI to Toshiba’s Aquilion One CT for stroke workup.

Comparing data sets from July through September 2007 with the same period in 2009, Millard Fillmore Circle Gates Hospital observed 20 and 63 percent increases in patients being discharged home for unspecified cerebral artery occlusion with cerebral infarction and unspecified transient cerebral ischemia, respectively.

The hospital also experienced $118,000 savings in workups for unspecified cerebral artery occlusion with cerebral infarction, $23,000 in unspecified transient cerebral ischemia and $21,000 in cerebral embolism with cerebral infarction, for length of stay plus diagnostic workup cost savings per quarter.

Millard Fillmore Hospital recorded large shifts in the diagnostic workup for acute stroke with the use of non-contrast head CT, CT perfusion, CT angiography of the head and neck and non-contrast brain MRI, according to Tustin, Calif.-based Toshiba America Medical Systems.

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