Royal Philips and Banner Health in Arizona announced a 15-year partnership today to expand their joint Intensive Ambulatory Care pilot and telehealth programs.

"This is a new model of care that co-locates clinical stakeholders to enhance collaboration in addressing the complex, psychosocial impediments to proper self-care by the patient," John Ryan, global marketing lead for Philips Hospital to Home, told HCB News. "Additionally, it manages the complex and often conflicting treatments for patients' comorbid conditions in a coordinated fashion."

Philips will contribute its expertise and research in connected care and population health management, and Banner will offer its clinical and operational knowledge.
Together the organizations will work to develop a governance structure to identify solutions and technologies that can improve both patient experience and outcomes. More specifically, they aim to create a more connected approach to care for cardiology, genomics, digital pathology and data analytics.

"By delivering on these dimensions, Philips frees the clinical team to apply their experience and judgement to provide care to the patients most in need of their expertise at that moment," said Ryan. "This enables the clinical team to maximize the impact they can achieve on their population of patients."

The partnership will also give Banner access to Philips solutions such as its radiology practice management solution, PerformanceBridge Practice. This solution will help improve operational performance across the health system.

It comprises a phased approach that involves benchmarking current imaging performance, optimizing performance and facilitating the delivery of appropriate and sustainable imaging.

Philips and Banner also announced today the results of a pilot study that investigated how telehealth solutions can support connected health initiatives and better manage care for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

The research found that the overall costs of care decreased by 34.5 percent due to the reduction in hospitalization rates and length of stay and in professional service and outpatient costs.

Before the program was initiated there were 10.9 hospitalizations per 100 patients per month, but afterward that dropped to 5.5 hospitalizations, which equates to a 49.5 percent decrease.

In addition, the average length of stay decreased by 50 percent and the 30-day readmission rate fell by 75 percent.

Banner is the most recent health care system to enter a long-term partnership with Philips. In the past 18 months, Philips entered partnerships with Westchester Medical Center Health Network, Mackenzie Health, Marin General Hospital and the Medical University of South Carolina Health.

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