HIRA Releases Stroke Care Assessment Results... 112 Institutions Recognized as Excellent

'Final Treatment Rate for Hemorrhagic Stroke' Reaches 99.9%

The Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) announced on July 30 that it had conducted an adequacy assessment of 268 acute stroke medical institutions nationwide and selected 112 of them as excellent institutions.

Distribution Status of Grade 1 Institutions for the 11th Acute Stroke Evaluation by Region. Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service

HIRA conducted the 11th evaluation on acute stroke cases admitted through the emergency room from October 2024 to March of last year. Starting with this evaluation, treatment for hemorrhagic stroke was included as a target in addition to the existing ischemic stroke cases.

The 268 institutions evaluated consist of 46 tertiary general hospitals and 222 general hospitals. Of these, 44.8% operated a 'Stroke Unit' equipped with both dedicated facilities/equipment and specialized personnel. The rate was 100% among tertiary general hospitals, compared to just 33.3% among general hospitals. This proportion increased by 12.7 percentage points compared to the 10th evaluation, indicating an improvement in the level of facilities and staffing, according to HIRA.

The percentage of ischemic stroke patients who received intra-arterial thrombectomy within 120 minutes of hospital arrival was 95.1%, and the percentage of hemorrhagic stroke patients who received final treatment for subarachnoid hemorrhage within 24 hours was 99.9%. However, only 56.7% of all evaluated institutions performed intra-arterial thrombectomy, and 58.6% performed final treatment for subarachnoid hemorrhage, revealing differences in final treatment capability among institutions.

The median time from onset of symptoms to arrival at the emergency room was 3 hours and 28 minutes, a reduction of 16 minutes compared to the 10th evaluation. For those who used an ambulance, it took 123 minutes, while it took 552 minutes (approximately 9 hours) without an ambulance, resulting in a difference of about 7 hours.

The average overall score was 85.17 points, with 112 institutions (41.8%) receiving a grade 1 (95 points or higher) and these being distributed across all regions nationwide. The results of the evaluation can be found on the HIRA website, the Hospital Evaluation Integrated Portal, and the mobile application.

Hong Seungkwon, President of HIRA, stated, "Since stroke outcomes depend critically on the time from symptom onset to final treatment, we will continue to improve adequacy assessments to shorten the time to final treatment and further strengthen the treatment capabilities of medical institutions."

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