AMC Health’s suite of telemonitoring technology and solutions, which include an interactive voice response (IVR) protocol, has exhibited a substantial reduction in 30-day patient readmissions for Geisinger Health Plan (GHP). The solution has also helped to improve the case manager efficiency and enhancing monitoring of patient transitions from hospital to home. Designed as a post-hospital discharge telemonitoring solution, the Geisinger Monitoring Program (GMP) interactive voice response protocol was responsible for reduced all-cause 30-day readmission rates by 44 percent for GHP.
In a release, Jim Peters, MBA, System Vice President at Geisinger Health System and head of Geisinger's strategic industry partnering activities, said, “What attracted us to AMC Health was that its technology platform was agnostic to the rapidly growing set of available monitoring devices and peripherals we saw penetrating the marketplace. AMC Health’s solutions amplify our case managers' efforts to continuously innovate and actively engage patients within their homes in ways that aim to enhance quality, reduce total cost of care, and improve access. Our success in leveraging AMC Health's technology to reduce readmissions underscores our belief that providing clinicians with the right data, at the right time, to drive the right interventions is critical to driving the best patient outcomes.”
Geisinger which incorporated the AMC Health Telemonitoring Solutions into its care management Heart Failure program in 2008 has experienced 85 percent patient compliance with the program. On being prompted by an automatic IVR “outreach” patients provide information such as weight measurements and information about symptoms via the IVR.
Janet Tomcavage, RN, MSN, Vice President of Health Services for Geisinger Health Plan, said, “These patients are among the most challenging to manage. The acuity of their condition requires constant surveillance to detect emerging exacerbations. If left unaddressed, this inevitably leads to increased emergency department utilization and costly hospital readmissions.”
In a survey which was conducted for Geisinger case managers, it was found that 96 percent of case managers working with telehealth technologies reported improved efficiency in monitoring heart failure patients while 85 percent were of the opinion that by integrating telehealth solution with close monitoring from the health care team helped in ensuring that a higher percentage of patients remain out of the hospital.
Based on the success delivered by the IVR and heart failure programs, GHP will be delivering telehealth program for patients of hypertension and diabetes.
Nesim Bildirici, President and CEO of AMC Health, said, “It is rewarding to be contributors to the success of Geisinger’s telehealth programs. Geisinger is at the forefront of clinical innovation, and its senior leadership is committed to using the latest technologies in support of evidence-based best practices resulting in improved quality of life.”
Because telehealth tools are threaded directly into the daily workflows of case managers, tasks such as tracking patient clinical progress in real-time becomes easy and provides case managers with opportunities for leveraging biometric and symptom information to make timely interventions.
Maria Lopes, MD, MS, AMC Health’s Chief Medical Officer, said, “This collaboration will help to enhance the logic that identifies which technologies are most effective in the management of chronic conditions in the home and how clinical data can be embedded in day to day workflows to improve care coordination and outcomes. The essence of telehealth is to drive efficiency with clinically meaningful and actionable information, identify pre-acute trends, improve quality metrics and bridge any communication gaps between patients and their care teams, leading to reduced hospitalizations and costs.”
Edited by
Rich Steeves
