From the May 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Continuous Monitoring on the Rise
In a cash-strapped medical economy, it’s financially crucial to keep as many of our patients in as low-acuity environments as possible. General care and post-acute facilities are typically less expensive to manage than ICUs and hospitals (respectively), and due to the high nurse-to-patient ratio, many facility managers are turning to continuous monitoring to help optimize resource utilization and improve patient outcomes with limited staff.

Continuous monitoring is quickly propagating across the U.S. in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and rehab centers. Today, continuous monitoring is helping post-acute care facilities meet the needs of ever-higher-acuity patients, without adding any extra burden. It is also elevating the competitive status of medical institutions, as many patients and their families appreciate the benefits that proven technology can provide for the care of their loved ones.
Clinical studies have shown that continuous monitoring can help reduce patient falls by 43 percent, reduces pressure ulcers by 64 percent, decreases code blue events by 86 percent, and reduce hospital readmissions by more 15 percent. According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, continuous monitoring also has the potential to help U.S. post-acute care sites generate an additional $40 billion in revenues, driven by a shift of more medically complex residents with higher reimbursement rates being cared for in a post-acute care setting instead of a hospital or at home.

As the positive impact of continuous monitoring continues to be brought to light, global adoption will continue to rise and the standard of care will improve across the health care continuum. This, in turn, will help keep patients out of high-acuity and high-cost environments, and most importantly, help improve outcomes and save lives.

Almost 20 years into the 21st century, advanced technology helps people stay continuously connected all the time. Now it’s time for health facilities to be continuously connected to their patients. This, is the future of health care.

About the author: Avner Halperin is CEO and co-founder of EarlySense.

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May 2018 Magazine

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