Changes in acute hospital costs after employing clinical facilitators to improve stroke care in Victoria, Australia

Hospital costs for stroke are increasing and variability in care quality creates inefficiencies. In 2007, the Victorian Government (Australia) employed clinical facilitators for three years in eight public hospitals to improve stroke care. Literature on the cost implications of such roles is rare. We report changes in the costs of acute stroke care following implementation of this program. Observational controlled before-and-after cohort design....