Healthcare IT News - January 2008 - (Page 16) 16 Healthcare IT News Bill Robb, clinical manager in Banner’s iCare center works at one of the stations. Nurses and physicians who work in the remote eICU monitor patients at some of Banner Health’s 20 hospitals, keeping track of vitals, conditions and other information on six monitors. One includes the EHR. Another is a zoom camera that can zero in closely on the patient. ■ January 2008 HoSpItalS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com The future of intensive care is hard to predict, Groves said. He cites industry statistics that show that adding the remote monitoring layer to intensive care reduces mortality by 27 percent and reduces the length of stay in the ICU by 17 percent. The return on investRobert Groves, ment, Groves estimates, is MD just over a year. But, more importantly, says Groves, it’s just a better way to take care of patients. Groves and eICU operations director Kate Trenary observe that ICU staff members do not usually readily embrace the approach. At first, they may feel that others have been appointed to check up on them. They soon realize it’s a good way to work – an added layer of safety, they said. “Our first year of data showed that there were 46 lives saved compared to the national average. We are still gathering more specific Kate Trenary information as we move forward,” said Trenary. “Banner didn’t go into the program for anything other than quality,” she added, “but we anticipate the data will show a decrease Banner Continued from page 1 nurses with information needed to assist the ICU staff in delivering proactive care for their patients. In the case of Banner Health, with its 20 hospitals far and wide from its Phoenix base and with many of them in rural areas, remote monitoring layered over on-site care seemed a good way to provide patients with better care – and save more lives, said Robert Groves, MD, Banner Health’s medical director. Great Make for “Banner didn’t go into the program for anything other than quality, but we anticipate the data will show a decrease in length of stay ” – Kate Trenary in length of stay compared to the national average as VISICU’s eICU Program has been shown to do for other facilities.” The eICU staff is housed adjacent to Banner Desert Medical Centers, simply because there was space available. The eICU unit employs 12 physicians full time. The ratio is one nurse to every 35 patients and one physician to every 100 patients. “We try to be very supportive,” Groves said. “When you’re not at the bedside, you can’t order care, you have to influence care. That added layer of safety has also been recognized by Banner Health’s insurers, reducing insurance costs by $1 million a year. Also nurse retention has improved, Groves said, and Banner Health has been able to reduce ancillary services. Groves said Visicu suggests that it costs in the range of $3 million to $5 million to set up a program, and $25,000-$50,000 per bed per year to maintain it. Visicu announced on Dec. 18 that it would be acquired by Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics in a $430 million deal. Among Visicu competitors in the eICU market are Picis, GE Healthcare and Cerner. “Next steps for Banner Health – our CEO, Peter Fine, has said the VISICU eICU program will be supporting all Banner Health ICUs across its hospitals in seven states, Trenary said. “Currently we have 192 beds monitored through our iCare program and plan to have a total of 202 beds in the program by end of February (across Colorado and Arizona).” ■ More at healthcareITnews.com e connect: BaNNer 0108 A collection of premier online resources for every stage of nursing — from education through practice and professional development. A comprehensive and trusted online resource www.NursingConsult.com An online skills and procedures reference system www.NursingSkills.com A robust nursing and allied health journal abstracts and indexing database www.MosbysNursingIndex.com For more information: NursingConsult.groupinfo@elsevier.com or 877-857-1047 VISIT US IN THE ELSEVIER BOOTH #2841 l e l connect: eLSevIerNurSINg 0108 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8463 http://www.MosbysNursingIndex.com http://www.NursingConsult.com http://www.NursingSkills.com http://www.NursingConsult.com http://www.NursingSkills.com http://www.MosbysNursingIndex.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8395 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=8464
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.