Chapter 111C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following new section:-

Section 11A. (a) The department shall develop a statewide coordinated stroke care system. At a minimum, the department, by regulation and guidance, shall provide for (1) training in the FAST-ED stroke scale for EMS personnel; (2) in consultation with the Office of Emergency Medical Services and the EMS system advisory board established in section 13 of chapter 111C, regular reviews of data collected in the Primary Stroke Service Stroke Patient Management Tool and the Massachusetts Ambulance Trip Record Information System and recommended changes to collected data in alignment with best-practices and to strengthen patient access to stroke care; (3) annual validations of Primary Stroke Service hospitals and offer follow-up with said hospitals to ensure quality care; (4) an ongoing public education campaign to improve awareness of stroke symptoms.

(b) The department shall develop recommendations to augment data collected by the Primary Stroke Services Stroke patient Management Tool data to include, but not be limited to, discharge time upon a patient’s transfer from an emergency department to a tertiary hospital, capturing advance notification made by EMS of a patient’s stroke screening prior to said patient’s arrival at a hospital and the time elapsed between a patient’s arrival at a hospital and receipt of stroke treatment.

(c) The department shall develop recommendations for Primary Stroke Services designated hospitals to improve documentation of a stroke patient’s last known well time, symptom onset time, brain imaging date and time and date and time of alteplase initiation.

(d) Upon provision of relevant regulations and guidance pursuant to subsection (a) and the development of recommendations pursuant to subsections (b) and (c), the department may amend its point of entry plan to enable direct transport to an endovascular thrombectomy capable facility under conditions including, but not limited to, travel time as aligned with evidence-based and best practices, last known well documentation and the FAST-ED screening tool score.

(e) The department shall provide for EMS personnel user-friendly access to all statewide collected stroke metrics.

(f) The department shall provide hospital specific stroke data reports to all Primary Stroke Service designated hospitals.