Ahead of the 2018 Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference, Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, announced the Philips eICU program has helped Avera Health, a South Dakota-based integrated health system, enhance care quality and efficiency by partnering to deliver significant clinical and financial outcomes through the ICU division of their telemedicine program, Avera eCARE®. The Avera eCARE ICU program results achieved in the last 12 months demonstrate the benefits of leveraging innovative, decision-support technology to help deliver high quality care across rural populations, while minimizing gaps in care. Avera eCARE ICU currently monitors 36 hospitals in nine states across the country.
As the nation's clinician shortage continues to grow [1], rural areas are increasingly struggling to provide patients with quality access to the personalized care they need in a timely manner. In widely dispersed communities, clinical teams have limited access to the expertise from intensivists, specialists and critical care nurses. Patients can be transferred to tertiary care centers in the nearest city, but this option requires expensive and lengthy air transfers. Leveraging telehealth technology can help rural hospitals increase access to quality care by providing the bedside team with expert guidance and 24/7 monitoring of critically ill patients.
Since implementing Philips’ eICU program, Avera eCARE, which serves 13 percent of the nation’s critical access hospitals, has reduced length of ICU stay, mortality, cost of care and clinician burnout. Over the last 12-month period alone, Avera Health has saved:
- USD 62 million in healthcare costs by reducing ICU and hospital length of stay;
- Nearly 11,000 ICU bed days through faster response times to complications; and
- 260 lives.
"Avera implemented eCARE ICU to support providers in rural communities by reducing physician isolation and improving the collaboration of providers," said Deanna Larson, CEO, Avera eCARE. "Implementing Philips' eICU program helped our organization transform how we provide critical care while simultaneously reducing healthcare costs. The program ensures the most critical patients are continuously monitored, by leveraging the utilization of telehealth specialists to evaluate and alert bedside providers of the patients' condition."
"With the current shift to value-based care, it's critical for healthcare organizations to prioritize both quality of care and cost containment. Achieving this double aim can be especially challenging for rural health systems with limited resources and specialty access," said Christine Storm, Business Leader, eICU, Philips. "The impressive clinical and financial outcomes Avera has achieved through their eCARE ICU program reveal how connected technology and remote monitoring programs can not only improve clinical outcomes, but also help rural populations get the personalized care they need, when they need it."
The Philips eICU program combines predictive analytics, data visualization and advanced reporting capabilities with Philips’ expertise to help deliver vital information to bedside caregivers. Receiving this remote support empowers the bedside team to make better informed, more efficient and effective value-based care decisions. Philips eCareManager, the program’s source-agnostic software, provides clinicians with a single integrated view of patient data, allowing care teams to productively manage a large population of patients.
Philips' full suite of integrated solutions will be on display in booth #3812 at the 2018 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition taking place March 5-9, 2018 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, NV.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2017 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 74,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.
About Avera Health
Avera Health the health ministry of the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters, is an integrated health system, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Avera is nationally recognized for Avera eCARE, a telehealth model that is transforming care delivery by leveraging expert staff and innovative technologies by improving health care at the local level, keeping patients close to home. Avera eCARE’s innovative care model offers access to specialists by supporting patients and clinicians in emergency rooms, critical care units, hospitals, long term care communities, clinics, correctional facilities, and schools. Serving nearly 400 urban and rural communities in 16 states, Avera eCARE is supporting workforce, reducing healthcare costs and saving lives.1. Mann S. Research Shows Shortage of More than 100,000 Doctors by 2030. Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). https://news.aamc.org/medical-education/article/new-aamc-research-reaffirms-looming-physician-shor/