A stroke patient from Brooksville could be prepped for a CT scan at Shands HealhCare in Gainesville in 20 minutes thanks to a new partnership among six regional hospitals.
Before the deal was done, it sometimes would take the same amount of time to simply decide where to send the patient.
Brooksville and Spring Hill Regional hospitals have entered an agreement with the University of Florida and Shands HealthCare. The signatures were put on paper last week, said Spring Hill Regional CEO Alex Contreras-Soto.
"This will allow us to provide to our community state-of-the-art technology and services," he said. "It eliminates a lot of red tape." More specifically, the agreement is aimed to provide more local patients with improved cardiac and stroke care. Contreras-Soto said Shands ranks among the elite hospitals in the nation in stroke treatment. The partnership also includes Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center in Davenport and Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center in Crystal River.
Brooksville and Spring Hill Regional hospitals already were certified primary stroke centers and accredited chest pain centers, so the new agreement provides more comprehensive care to more patients, said Brooksville Regional spokeswoman Robin Schneider.
"We can provide a higher level of care, which translates to better outcomes for our patients," she said. Patients can expect more accurate diagnoses in addition to the transfer benefits to Shands, local hospital executives have said.
"When every second counts, patients can feel assured that our emergency room is not only minutes away, but our top professionals are now linked with UF physicians at Shands, which consistently ranks among the country's top 50 hospitals," said Patrick Maloney, CEO of Brooksville Regional, in a media release.
Contreras-Soto said transfer time from Hernando County to Shands takes about 10 to 15 minutes via helicopter. "We can provide the latest in medical care for our patients and increase the education opportunities for our hospital staff members, as continuing education, rounding and patient care discussions can be done via the Internet," he said. The path toward the new partnership began about six months ago. Brooksville and Spring Hill Regional hospitals' parent company, Health Management Associates (HMA), took majority ownership of three hospitals in the Orlando area that previously were owned by Shands. "On a corporate level, this agreement in Orlando opened to door for this one," said Contreras-Soto.