{"id":42113,"date":"2015-09-21T16:02:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T16:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tele.healthcare\/new.php\/?p=2050"},"modified":"2015-09-21T16:02:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-21T16:02:50","slug":"how-a-home-monitoring-program-slashed-hospitalizations-and-bed-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drmiltie.com\/at-home-testing\/how-a-home-monitoring-program-slashed-hospitalizations-and-bed-days\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Home Monitoring Program Slashed Hospitalizations and Bed Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proof is always in the pudding. \u00a0How about THIS pudding\u2026..<\/p>\n

May 27, 2014\u00a0|\u00a0Eric Wicklund \u2013 Editor, mHealthNews<\/p>\n

Hospital systems looking for the value of a home-based monitoring program for discharged patients might be interested in a nine-month project undertaken by North Carolina-based Vidant Health.<\/p>\n

The health system, a nine-hospital, 70+-clinic network serving some 29 counties and 1.4 million people, reported a whopping 67 percent reduction in hospitalizations and a 68 percent reduction in hospital bed days, according to a case study prepared by Bonnie Britton, MSN, RN, ATAF, Vidant\u2019s telehealth program administrator, and the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services Technologies.<\/p>\n

The study further proof that health providers are seeing measured success in connecting recently discharged patients and those with chronic conditions to home-based care programs that make use of monitoring devices and a communications link to care providers.<\/p>\n

Hospital administrators proposed the post-hospital discharge program to target patients with cardiovascular disease and pulmonary disease, who are generally part of a health network\u2019s high-risk, high-cost population. The project was designed to measure patient communication and access to care after discharge, as well as readmissions and days spent in the hospital as a result (bed days).<\/p>\n

According to the case study, Vidant Health enrolled 1,323 cardiovascular and pulmonary disease patients \u2013 identified through the health system\u2019s electronic health record \u2013 in the program. Candidates were asked to take a Patient Activation Measurement (PAM) survey, and if they scored high enough and agreed to participate, they and their family members were visited by a telehealth nurse technician (TNT), who conducted a home safety assessment, installed the home monitoring technology, trained the patient and catalogued and compared all medications in the home to ensure they met the hospital\u2019s discharge medication list.<\/p>\n

Once activated, the patient was asked to, on a daily basis, collect his or her biometric data, which were then encrypted and transferred to a cloud-based server and reviewed each day by a telehealth nurse. If the nurse found any reason for a medical intervention, he or she contacted the patient\u2019s doctor via the EHR.<\/p>\n

Patient data was collected for the three months prior to the project, the three month duration of the project, and three months after the project was completed. Hospitalizations dropped from 820 in the three months prior to 270 during the project to 248 in the three months after the project, while hospital bed days dropped from 3,778 before to 1,182 during to 1,210 after, according to the case study,<\/p>\n

The health system also reported a patient satisfaction rate of 56 percent, taken at the mid-point of the program.<\/p>\n

While health system officials haven\u2019t figured the impact on hospital costs, charges, readmission and reimbursement \u2013 they\u2019re waiting for the end of the fiscal year to compile those results \u2013 they did estimate that hospitalization costs to payers dropped 68 percent as a result of the program.<\/p>\n

In terms of ROI so far, officials said the remote monitoring program and associated medication monitoring reduced hospitalizations, bed days and emergency room visits, while enabling officials to earlier identify and treat disease exacerbations. It also improved patient engagement.<\/p>\n

The health system also offered several lessons learned from the experience:<\/p>\n