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Custom Telehealth Software for Stroke Care
Features, Costs, and Benefits
In healthcare IT since 2005, ScienceSoft designs and develops advanced telemedicine software for stroke care management.
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The Essence of Telestroke
Telestroke connects experienced vascular neurologists with several emergency care hospitals to provide online consultations on efficient stroke treatment using telehealth technology and remote patient monitoring. According to Harvard Medical School, telestroke helps lower mortality risks and improve care outcomes.
Custom telestroke software offers tailored functionalities and workflows to initiate real-time remote assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning. It helps healthcare providers to react swiftly in critical moments and integrates tools for emergency care coordination and post-stroke rehabilitation management.
With a telestroke solution, patient care is delivered as follows:
Telemedicine is effectively used to diagnose and help treat all major stroke types:
- Ischemic stroke – brain dysfunction caused by lack of blood flow (ischemia).
- Hemorrhagic stroke – bleeding into the brain or between the brain's membranes caused by the rupture of a blood vessel.
- Mini-stroke or transient ischemic attack – a brief episode of ischemia with symptoms lasting less than 1-2 hours.
The Architecture and Integrations of Telestroke Software
The core part of a telestroke solution is a cloud server with a data storage and processing module and a video streaming server. The former enables secure storage and handling of medical data and ePHI (e.g., device-generated data, treatment plans). The latter provides real-time audiovisual communication between an emergency care team, a vascular neurologist, and a patient. The user-facing modules of a telestroke solution usually include the following:
App for the emergency care team
to launch a real-time or follow-up stroke consultation with a vascular neurologist, view a patient’s treatment plan, etc.
App for vascular neurologists
to examine a patient, assess the stroke symptoms, and provide online consultations.
Admin web panel (for admins, health services managers)
to manage software access rights, assign consultation requests, and monitor the quality of services (audio/video quality, consultation timings, etc.).
A patient rehabilitation module (optional):
App for patients
to schedule and join follow-up appointments and rehabilitation sessions, log symptoms, and check in-app treatment plans. Depending on a patient’s condition, the app can be operated by a relative or caregiver.
Smart medical devices
to ensure automation in measuring and collecting the patient’s vitals for further analysis. Recommended devices: blood pressure monitor, ECG patch, smartwatch.
Important integrations to ensure fast and secure access to patient health data:
EHR or EMR
to provide access to medical history, chronic conditions, and allergies for a vascular neurologist. The patient’s medical and contact information from the originating site’s EHR should be automatically uploaded to the neurological center’s EHR for treatment, billing, etc.
Medical imaging and laboratory software
to get an instant view of diagnostic images and lab test results, identify the stroke type, the vessel blockage location, and decide on the treatment. Medical images (e.g., CT scans, MRI scans) can be transferred via API to the cloud server for image analysis or analyzed by the vascular neurologist via a DICOM viewer.
Practice management system (PMS)
to access the healthcare specialists’ schedules (of the neurological center and the originating site), automate billing, etc.
Connected hospital devices or sensors
to provide a vascular neurologist and a care team with real-time patient vitals for streamlined diagnosing and symptoms monitoring.
Which hospital gets reimbursement for telestroke services?
CMS-regulated payers (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid) reimburse the services of the originating site and the neurological center. To receive reimbursement, both organizations should log the stroke case in their EHRs with the billing codes according to CMS guidelines.
Key Features of Telestroke Software
When designing a unique feature set for a telestroke solution, ScienceSoft's healthcare IT consultants consider each customers' unique business needs and requirements. Here is the list of common features we implement:
Remote stroke care consulting for emergency centers
- 24/7 vascular neurologist consultation requesting by a remote emergency care team.
- Notifications on new telestroke requests for on-duty neurologists.
- Videoconferencing for emergency consultations with a vascular neurologist.
- Instant chat between an on-site care team and a vascular neurologist.
- Patient examination checklists for a vascular neurologist (visual assessment, evaluation of motor skills and speech).
- Follow-up patient examinations.
In-app stroke diagnostics and treatment assistance (advanced SaMD features)
- NIH stroke scale calculator to assess stroke severity based on patients’ reactions.
- Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) calculator to determine stroke severity using available CT data.
- t-PA dose calculator to prescribe the thrombolytic drugs to patients with ischemia.
- AI-based CT scans analytics for automated stroke type diagnostics and abnormalities identification.
- Modified Rankin scale (mRS) calculator to measure the degree of stroke patients’ disability or dependence in daily activities (for recovery and rehabilitation monitoring).
Stroke treatment planning and coordination
- Electronic treatment plan creation (custom or template-based).
- A patient’s treatment plan export (e.g., for sharing with a rehabilitation provider).
- Real-time tracking of patient vitals with connected devices or sensors (for monitoring medication efficiency and stroke symptoms alleviation).
- Stroke treatment efficiency assessment, rehabilitation assignment (after a surgery or medication treatment).
Stroke patient data storage and access
- Stroke case details, follow-up visit details, and prescriptions.
- In-app access to a patient's medical history, medical images (e.g., MRI, CT, ECG scans) and lab results for a neurologist.
- Access to recordings of teleconsultations for an emergency care team and a vascular neurologist.
Data security and patient safety
- PHI access management (e.g., restricted editing of PHI, version history).
- Identity management and multi-factor authentication.
- Telestroke software data encryption (for video and audio calls, messages, patient records, etc.).
- HIPAA and HITECH compliance.
- FDA regulations compliance (for telestroke software with SaMD features).
Stroke care training
- Remote stroke care training for emergency care teams (e.g., about novel stroke therapies and their use).
- Remote supervision by an expert vascular neurologist for doctors providing acute stroke care.
How to Build Telestroke Software
ScienceSoft always follows a meticulously planned development roadmap to ensure custom telestroke software is reliable, secure, and compliant with the stringent industry requirements.
1
Analyzing requirements and introducing the feature set
Understanding the specific needs of stroke care providers and patients to identify essential features, such as remote patient monitoring, brain scan analysis tools, automated triage algorithms, and stroke severity scoring.
2
Defining the architecture and tech stack
Designing a scalable and secure software architecture; selecting technologies and frameworks aligning with industry standards and prioritizing low-latency communication for real-time doctor-patient interactions.
3
Project planning
Defining the budget, timeline, deliverables, KPIs, and resource allocation.
4
Iterative development and testing
Creating prototypes, validating the idea with the stakeholders (stroke care experts, neurologists, emergency physicians, and radiologists), carrying out agile development and testing in parallel.
5
Deployment
Setting up servers, implementing rigorous security measures to protect patient data, and ensuring seamless integration with existing healthcare systems (e.g., EHR/EMR, hospital information systems) and smart devices (e.g., a hemiplegia finger training device, a wearable carotid Doppler device, a PPG device).
6
Maintenance
Providing continuous support and upgrades based on user feedback and emerging needs in stroke care; ensuring ongoing regulatory compliance.
See How It Works in Real Life
Check Out Our Telehealth App Demo
Explore opportunities that a telehealth app provides to foster continuous and impactful communication between patients and healthcare professionals.
Explore a Telehealth App with Remote Patient Monitoring
In the app demo, we show how the automated collection of health parameters, vitals analysis, and identification of symptom patterns contribute to advanced patient care.
Benefits of Telestroke Solutions
For neurological centers
Service coverage expansion and increased capacity of treated patients (Healthcare IT News).
General benefits
- Reduced time from patient admission to stroke treatment (door-to-needle time) due to quick access to neurological care (National Library of Medicine).
- Decreased risk of stroke-related complications and disabilities due to timely treatment decisions (The Harvard Gazette).
- Minimized patient transfers leading to lower expenses and risks (for patients who need non-surgical treatment) due to faster care delivery backed up with expert consulting at the local ER (American Academy of Neurology).
- Improved diagnostic accuracy in emergency care due to close collaboration with vascular neurologists (Journal of Clinical Medicine).
What Determines Telestroke Software Success
Telestroke software success highly depends on its ability to provide timely care. ScienceSoft's consultants defined factors helping to ensure it with technology:
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Clear UXto make user journeys simple and save time of the medical staff involved in stroke care. |
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Seamless integration with required systemsto provide a vascular neurologist with an integrated patient view, timely access to all needed patient data via EHR, LIS, medical imaging software, etc., resulting in quality stroke care. |
Examples of Telestroke Software Implementation
Massachusetts General Hospital offers comprehensive telestroke and teleneurology programs to community hospitals. Now, over 95% of consultation requests are answered within five minutes. Clinicians in remote hospitals report that MGH neurologists’ consultations improve decision-making confidence and allow treating 71%-88% of emergency telestroke patients locally.
SA Health, Australia, implemented a cloud-based telestroke platform to gather vital health information from stroke patients and provide virtual consultations. As a result, it reduced unnecessary hospital-to-hospital transfers by 72%.
Do You Need Custom Telestroke Software?
Answer a few quick questions from our healthcare IT consultants to determine whether you need a custom telestroke solution.
Do you require high telestroke software convenience for stroke consultants and ER teams?
Do you have a complex IT environment or legacy apps that need to be seamlessly integrated with the telestroke software?
Do you want to automate operations for telestroke program administration, case reporting, reimbursement, etc.?
Do you need a specialized app for patient rehabilitation?
Do you plan on monitoring stroke patients’ vitals using connected medical devices or sensors?
Do you want to implement advanced telestroke software functionality? For example, medical image assessment using AI, VR-based surgery planning using MRI or CT-based 3D modeling, etc.
Tell us more about your needs
Please answer at least one question to help us better understand your business objectives.
A ready-made app may be the best fit for you
Based on your answers, an off-the-shelf telemedicine platform will suit the stroke care needs of your organization. ScienceSoft’s healthcare IT experts are ready to help you choose and implement the best-fitting software.
It’s best to opt for a custom telestroke solution
It seems that custom telestroke software is more suitable for your needs. ScienceSoft’s team is ready to help you define the necessary features, design a robust architecture, and develop a reliable telestroke solution.
How Much Does Telehealth Software for Stroke Care Cost?
A telemedicine solution for stroke care with core features like online consultations, chat, file exchange, and EHR integration usually costs from $150,000 to $200,000. The costs may increase to $300,000 for an advanced solution with features like integrated devices, medical image analysis, AI, etc.
Want to understand the detailed costs of your telestroke software?
Learn more about telemedicine software development cost factors and ROI.
Telehealth Software for Stroke Care by ScienceSoft
Holding ISO 13485 certification, ScienceSoft creates secure telestroke software in full compliance with the requirements of the FDA and the Council of the European Union.
Telestroke consulting
ScienceSoft’s consultants will help you select a suitable telemedicine platform — or take over software development planning from feasibility study to requirements engineering and architecture design.
Development of telestroke software
Partner up with ScienceSoft to develop a state-of-the-art telestroke solution! Our competent healthcare IT experts are ready to handle your app's design, development, QA, integration, compliance, and support.
Our Customers Say
Todd Nilson
MD
We are thankful for the meticulous and value-driven approach of ScienceSoft’s team. They created comprehensive project documentation, feature lists, and worked out thorough recommendations to help us improve the stability and performance of our solution. ScienceSoft’s project manager, business analyst, QA and software engineers were always friendly and ready to answer our questions or solve any ad-hoc issues. ScienceSoft proved to be a reliable vendor with a solid healthcare background, and we recommend them to everyone looking for a telehealth software development partner.
Thanks to ScienceSoft’s practical healthcare IT expertise, we created a musculoskeletal therapy platform that can be fully customized and reflect the needs of each program member. I am excited to see AKLOS Health change the approach to physiotherapy and offer each member a truly bespoke experience that’s based in science.
We engaged ScienceSoft to build an Android app that complements our web-based platform for our patients.
They advised and successfully lead the way from end to end through the technical challenges and considerations with development of the app. We have also engaged them to introduce a few enhancements to the app and would certainly consider ScienceSoft as a technology partner in further software development initiatives.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is an international IT consulting and software development vendor with 18 years of experience in healthcare IT. Being ISO 13485-certified to design and deliver medical software according to the requirements of the FDA and the Council of the European Union, ScienceSoft advises on the implementation of telehealth solutions for stroke care and develops software for rapid and accurate stroke diagnosis and treatment.