Innovative discharge program reduces congestive heart failure readmissions

Feb 3 2010

An innovative discharge program developed by Saddleback Memorial Medical Center combining coordination of hospital and community resources, strong patient education and the IDEAL LIFE Bluetooth-enabled wireless remote health monitoring system has helped to reduce congestive heart failure (CHF) readmissions by 50 percent

“In addition to the focus on the patient’s home, we can even place self-serve kiosks at local communities and senior centers to enable large scale community connectivity between patients, physicians and hospitals.”

Due to the success of the program, Saddleback Memorial is expanding the model, which is built on care coordination, informatics and technology, to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“At Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, we are committed to improving outcomes: reducing preventable readmissions and improving the quality of life and physical functioning for our patients,” said Laurie Carson, FNP-C, MSN, heart failure outreach care coordinator. “The results from the CHF program are truly impressive when you consider that a significant percentage of our patients are elderly, have a range of comorbidities and are often uncomfortable with technology. The program has been very well received by our staff, physicians and patients and we are excited about expanding it.”

"The success Saddleback Memorial has achieved shows the impact we can have in patients’ lives by combining care coordination with the use of affordable, easy to use tools that fit the lifestyle of patients and the workflow of their care team," said Jason Goldberg, president and founder of IDEAL LIFE. “In addition to the focus on the patient’s home, we can even place self-serve kiosks at local communities and senior centers to enable large scale community connectivity between patients, physicians and hospitals.”

Today, hospitals are especially challenged to find ways to improve management of all chronic illnesses in the face of proposals to slash Medicare payments to facilities that readmit patients within a specific time period. According to the American Hospital Association, these new regulations would raise costs to hospitals an estimated $19 billion over 10 years.

IDEAL LIFE’s remote monitoring system collects a patient’s biometric data and wirelessly transmits the results via a variety of communication channels – including telephone land lines, cell phones, and the Internet - to a secure data repository where it can be read by their healthcare providers. Once the IDEAL LIFE pod is plugged in, patients just step on the scale and their weight is automatically transmitted to their care team. With this real time data, the team can immediately intervene if there is a sudden increase in body weight, which can lead to hospitalization or emergency room visits.

Carson notes, “The IDEAL LIFE data helps me focus on the patients who need home visits, versus those who are more stable and can be managed telephonically. We can then devote our resources where they are needed, having a greater impact without adding additional staff.”

IDEAL LIFE’s technology and informatics play a key role in the success of the CHF program. The data can be used to create an automatic, electronic, outpatient medical record that bridges the gap in communication between patients’ multiple physicians and inpatient and outpatient care teams – a gap that is the reason behind many re-hospitalizations. Providers can see the whole picture of what is happening with the patient, even their medication usage. And, this data can easily become part of the hospital’s electronic medical record to make sharing information even easier and achieving true continuity in patient care.

IDEAL LIFE currently has the largest installed base of remote health monitoring systems in the U.S., next to the Veterans’ Administration. It is used by hospitals, health plans, medical groups, home health agencies, community clinics, and academic medical institutions for the management of a variety of chronic illnesses including congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.