Florida Regional Medical Center sets 21-minute DTN record and 22% faster stroke treatment with Sevaro telestroke

A 235-bed acute care hospital in Florida had an average door-to-needle (DTN) time of 46 minutes and tPA utilization of only 26% from January–November 2020. While above average for U.S. hospitals, these figures fell short of DNV Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification requirements (tPA within 60 min ≥75% of the time and within 45 min ≥50% of the time). Access to on-call vascular neurologists was a key bottleneck.

The hospital deepened its partnership with Sevaro, which provided a team of boarded vascular neurologists available 24/7 via telestroke. After analysis, the hospital and Sevaro redesigned the acute stroke protocol for the emergency room, integrating Viz AI for rapid large vessel occlusion (LVO) detection and establishing a sub-45-second physician connection standard for every stroke code.

Post-implementation (January–October 2021), average DTN dropped to 37 minutes with a record low of 21 minutes. tPA utilization rose from 26% to 38%, a 12-percentage-point increase. LVO patients were identified and referred to neuro-interventionalists more rapidly. The hospital was invited to present at the National Emergency Conference as one of the top six stroke programs in the country.

• Rapid physician access (≤45 seconds to a vascular neurologist) is a critical lever for compressing door-to-needle times beyond what protocol optimization alone can achieve.
• Integrating AI-based LVO detection (Viz AI) with telestroke coverage creates a compounding effect on stroke workflow speed.
• Data-driven protocol review — not just technology deployment — was the catalyst that unlocked measurable improvement even after an already-above-average baseline.