Hospitals certified as primary stroke centers (PSCs) are far more common in states with laws that require paramedics to take stroke patients directly to one, according to a study published in Stroke, the journal of the American Stroke Association. States with such laws saw an increase in hospitals certified as PSCs more than twice that of states without them. At PSCs, specially-trained professionals deliver reliable, timely emergency care. There are several reasons a hospital might forgo PSC certification, lead author Ken Uchino, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic told Reuters. "Sometimes a hospital is so small that the facility does not expect many patients with stroke to arrive," he said. "Sometimes the resources to provide quality care are not available, such as radiology technicians on call to run a CT scanner 24 hours a day or a specialist physician in the community." Study abstract