Royal Philips launches latest version of telehealth solution

Royal Philips has announced its continued commitment to driving the adoption of innovative telehealth solutions across the continuum of care with the latest version of its eCareManager software platform, now designed for acute care.

A foundational technology powering Philips Hospital to Home's suite of telehealth programmes, eCareManager 4.0 is now available to hospitals and health systems looking to expand telehealth capabilities into medical and surgical units.

As telehealth programmes incorporating Philips technology continue to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes in critical care and in the home, hospitals are increasingly realising the value and impact of telehealth across medical and surgical units.

"While eCareManager is a critical piece of our offering, delivering higher standards of care requires more than technology alone," said Derek Smith, chiefexecutive of Philips Hospital to Home.

"Working with our customers, the insights we're able to derive from our patient-centric approach to telehealth result in vast improvements in outcomes and cost savings for hospitals and health systems alike."

eCareManager 4.0 provides proactive patient population management, advanced clinical decision support and care co-ordination tools which are critical to the Philips Hospital to Home eAcute programme.

Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona piloted an initial version of the Philips eCareManager platform in its medical and surgical units and uncovered care improvements. Compared to standard care and in partnership with the bedside team, the telehealth-based care delivery model in the medical/surgical unit reduced the length of stay by 17%, reduced the cost of care per case by 16%, reduced death or discharge to hospice care by 26%, and reduced falls by 36%.

"Continuous patient surveillance across the care continuum, partnered with Philips Hospital to Home tools and a telehealth team, can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs," said Julie Reisetter, chief nursing officer at Banner Telehealth.

"We're excited to see the results of our early collaboration with the Philips Hospital to Home team with the release of eCareManager 4.0."

The expanded feature set in the eCare Manager 4.0 release extends to address the specific needs of acute care patients, including increased vital sign monitoring for higher-risk patients and sophisticated clinical decision support to identify instability and facilitate earlier interventions. There is also a focus on improving compliance with high priority best practices sepsis management, fall prevention, pain management, etc and care transitions support to facilitate discharge.