Medgadget: How are such patients provided with aftercare at present? How is this suboptimal?

Kirsten Carroll: Historically, stroke care has focused on acute intervention to restore blood flow in the hours after stroke onset and minimize the damage to the brain. Follow-up care is largely focused on preventing another stroke. Though some stroke survivors receive stroke rehabilitation that can facilitate some level of recovery, the majority do not. There is almost no focus on education and support for survivors living with the lasting, often permanent impacts of stroke.

Stroke survivors have told us that while they may be brought to a hospital by helicopter with teams mobilized to urgently care for them, they leave quietly through the back door, with little attention or fanfare. While treatment at the acute level is swift and organized, there’s no singular entity dedicated to helping survivors navigate life after stroke. Research indicates that in the first three months after a stroke, the average survivor needs nearly 50 hours a week of informal care. In that same timeframe, 1 in 4 stroke survivors is readmitted to the hospital, most often due to infections caused or exacerbated by their stroke-induced impairments. By one-year post-stroke, that readmission number has grown to nearly 50%, with 20% of survivors being readmitted multiple times.

Stroke is a population health issue affecting nearly 10% of Medicare enrollees and a growing proportion of younger people. Post-acute clinical care in the first year after stroke costs over $20 billion annually in the United States, more than double the cost of acute stroke hospitalization. Stroke survivors need and deserve education, communities, therapies, and support that are designed for and with them to address the unique challenges they face in managing their health and their lives after stroke.

Medgadget: Where is the system currently available? How has it been received so far?

Kirsten Carroll: The Kandu Health program is nearing completion of its pilot with our first hospital partners and will continue providing service in the greater Los Angeles and South New Jersey areas.

Although it is early data with small numbers, Kandu’s enrollment rates, engagement, and outcomes have exceeded expectations to date. Kandu graduates have uniformly endorsed the program, noting the significant impact it has had on their health, agency, and quality of life.

Kandu’s Hospital partners recognize that there are significant gaps in the care provided to stroke survivors, especially after these patients return home to continue their recovery. Their partnership with Kandu is a signal of their commitment to clinical excellence, and accountability to the populations they are serving beyond hospital discharge.

There is tremendous excitement around the clinical evidence we are starting to collect, and we look forward to presenting evidence of Kandu’s impact at multiple scientific conferences in the coming year. Most importantly, we are seeing survivors’ excitement about participation in the Kandu program and witnessing positive changes in their quality of life as they regain their agency and increase their independence. We look forward to announcing commercial partnerships in expanded geographies in the near future.