In a recent press release, Advanced ICU Care, the nation's leading provider of high-acuity telehealth services, announced the positive results of an initial study designed to assess the impact of leveraging comprehensive tele-ICU services in conjunction with population health data analyses to improve clinical outcomes for patients in the intensive care unit.
The study results were presented by Dellice Dickhaus, M.D., FCCP, Advanced ICU Care's Medical Director of Operations, at the Society of Critical Care Medicine's 46th Critical Care Congress in Honolulu, HI.
The 12-month analysis results clearly demonstrated the benefits of tele-ICU services in providing data that impacted key clinical metrics, including:
ICU length of stay (LOS) – average 36 percent below predicted¹
ICU mortality rates – average 29 percent below predicted¹
ICU days saved – 26,859¹
Patient survival – 389 patients survived over expected¹
Population health analysis, or the assessment of combined health outcomes from a group of individuals, can be very useful to develop proactive care delivery models that enhance patient experience and lower costs. However, hospitals in general, and ICUs in particular, are often limited in their ability to transform extensive data sets into clinically-useful information through the use of advanced data analytics.
The implementation of a coordinated tele-ICU program can facilitate multiple solutions to this challenge by digitally capturing a continuous data stream of patient information. The resulting opportunity to focus on analytics enables evidence-based approaches to population health, including acuity-adjusted analysis and results benchmarking. A population-focused quality improvement process is enabled, wherein patients are treated, outcomes measured across a population, protocols revised, and future patients benefit from the analysis.
"The addition of tele-ICU services can provide for staffing resources and performanceanalytics that are otherwise unavailable. Together they support the design, systematization, and execution of clinical workflows that adhere to best-practice protocols," said Dr. Dickhaus. "The process includes the systematic capture of large quantities of data, followed by analysis to determine population health impacts and then the adjustment of clinical protocols and workflows. Tele-ICU reporting capabilities measure the effectiveness of these protocols, allowing for a feedback loop and ongoing process improvement."
Click here to read the full press release>>