At the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (ASA), we’re fighting every day for public policies to improve the treatment of stroke, enhance stroke research, ensure access to needed rehabilitation, and ultimately to cure this devastating disease. We are pursuing a robust stroke advocacy agenda at the federal, state and local levels. Issues that we’re currently working on include:
Meaningful Healthcare Reform
The ASA believes that the new healthcare reform law addresses a number of the concerns that stroke patients and their families face. For instance, stroke patients without health insurance have a 24–56 percent higher risk of death, compared to stroke patients with insurance, so ensuring that more Americans have access to affordable, adequate insurance is a critical priority of healthcare reform. Other priorities include: improving the coverage of preventive services to help reduce the risk of stroke, eliminating lifetime and annual caps on needed services, and ensuring that coverage for rehabilitative, habilitative and other care needed by stroke patients is adequate for their full recovery.
Develop and Strengthen State Stroke Systems of Care
Working in each of the 50 states to create inclusive and coordinated statewide systems of care to improve the treatment of the stroke patient. Such efforts include: working to ensure that the recognition, and the protection, of Primary Stroke Centers designation is based on Joint Commission certification or an equivalent process; advocating for the utilization of current AHA/ASA guidelines for stroke care; promoting within Emergency Medical Services Systems statewide standardization and implementation of stroke training, assessment, treatment, and transportation protocols; supporting the utilization of telemedicine to help facilitate the links critical to establishing a meaningful system for stroke prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation; supporting the removal of barriers for rehabilitation referral and rehabilitation treatment of stroke patients; and, promoting the establishment and expansion of statewide registries which utilize Get with the Guidelines — Stroke as the state registry data platform.
NIH Funding for Stroke
Fighting to increase National Institutes of Health investment in stroke research.
Medicare Caps on Therapy Services
Advocating to ensure that Medicare patients suffering a stroke have access to needed therapy services.
Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry
Working to support and expand this registry, which helps to improve the quality of stroke care in participating states.
CDC Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program
Fighting to increase federal support for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program, which provides funding for states to implement state-tailored programs to prevent and control stroke, as well as heart disease.
Stroke Telemedicine
Working to remove barriers to the use of telemedicine in improving stroke care.
HEART for Women Act
Advocating for federal legislation to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of stroke, as well as heart disease, in women.
