Expanding access to critical care services

Across the U.S., the need for high-quality, timely critical care is greater than ever before. However, managing the growing number of ICU patients is increasingly challenging due to a nationwide shortage of highly skilled critical care nurses and intensivists.¹

Confronted by similar challenges, Emory Healthcare turned to Philips to expand access to critical care services. By providing remote monitoring of ICU patients on a continuous basis, Emory’s eICU program helps care teams quickly recognize and respond to changes in patients’ vital signs, labs or other physiologic factors and allows critical care to be provided where and when it is needed most.

Emory embarked on an effort to optimize operational resources and ensure the timely delivery of appropriate treatment in the ICU. They used a $10.7 million grant from CMS to launch the Philips eICU program to monitor critical care patients 24/7 and provide intensivist physician oversight and support on the night and weekend shifts. Their goal was to improve quality of care, shorten ICU lengths of stay, and discharge patients in a better state of recovery, potentially reducing Medicare spending.

Results of an independent audit conducted by Abt Associates highlight Emory’s success. The three-year audit analyzed financial and clinical outcomes for Emory’s eICU monitored patients and nine comparable healthcare institutions in the region that did not have eICU monitoring services.

Due to the level of high-quality and consistent care at Emory, patients felt healthier when they were discharged and had fewer readmissions for 60 days following their inpatient stay. Emory discharged more patients to home settings than long-term care or skilled nursing facilities, and patient satisfaction for those patients who received care at Emory was more favorable than the comparison hospitals.

The findings at Emory confirm direct and favorable effects on patient outcomes and costs of care. This has special significance for accountable care organizations that are taking on more financial risk and must pay for similarly high-cost patients while adhering to high-quality standards.

Emory’s remote monitoring team, through the use of Philips technology, was credited with providing more timely interventions to bedside caregivers and ensuring patients received care for issues that may have otherwise gone undetected. The result was that patients received more consistent care in the hospital, allowing them to recover in the home setting more often.