From the November 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Due to the high acuity and complexity of patients in an ICU, high-quality care, patient outcomes and financial health are strongly correlated. At an average variable cost of $1,200 per patient per ICU day, for example, reducing LOS will have a significant impact not only on the ICUs, but also, ultimately, on the hospital’s financial performance. In collaboration with hospitals across the country, Advanced ICU Care is collecting real-world data that demonstrate the value of the continuous tele-ICU model.
Analysis of data across 55,000 patients and more than 60 hospitals for 2015 demonstrates the positive impact of tele-ICU services. In this inclusive review, engagement of tele-ICU services enabled the reduction of ICU mortality rates by 34 percent, saved more than 1,400 lives and reduced the typical LOS for a patient in the ICU by more than a full day when compared to expected outcomes. Aggregated, the savings achieved from a reduction in ICU LOS alone in these 60 hospitals was in excess of $65 million.
In one illustrative case, in the first year of implementing a 24-hour, collaborative tele-ICU program, a hospital in Arizona reduced ICU LOS by 21 percent. The elevated care provided in the ICU and improved LOS contributed to a 31 percent reduction in overall hospital LOS and resulted in $2.3 million in savings for the hospital. When looking at all elements of a multi-faceted ROI analysis, this particular hospital calculated a 9x return on its deployment of tele-ICU services.
More broadly, a typical ICU program will yield material clinical implementation of, and adherence to, best practices and established standards of care. In addition, a well-structured tele-ICU program will also yield significant improvement in the ICU mortality rate and ICU length of stay. ICU CMI and patient volume are often positively impacted. Ventilator days typically drop significantly. A long list of other clinical and financial indicators also typically trend advantageously.
Medical initiatives that are focused only on cost-cutting are typically important, but very challenging. The evidence continues to show that a telemedicine approach to the ICU yields significant improvements in clinical outcomes that are critical to hospital CMOs, in the context of a strong, ROI-driven business use case, benefiting patients, their families, the bedside teams that serve them and the hospitals that form the backbone of our health care delivery system.
About the author: Lou Silverman is the CEO of Advanced ICU Care. He has a 15-year record as a CEO in health care technology and services companies. Silverman also serves on the board of directors for a variety of health care-related companies, both public and private.Back to HCB News
