Winter 2009 Newsletter

What's New

Houston Healthcare System selects Advanced ICU Care program

Houston Healthcare System has selected Advanced ICU Cares virtual ICU program to help enhance ICU patient care and safety and provide support to local ICU clinicians 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, Ga. and Perry Hospital in Perry, Ga. have begun using Advanced ICU Cares program in their 18 ICU beds. Mobile remote-monitoring carts also will be employed to support the emergency departments of each facility, as well as the 14-bed Intermediate Care Unit at Houston Medical Center. This mobile technology allows intensivist-directed care outside of the ICU, providing support and assisting in evaluating and caring for critical patients in other areas of the hospital.

Memorial Hospital at Gulfport signs on with Advanced ICU Care

Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Miss. will begin using the Advanced ICU Care virtual ICU program to support its 26 ICU beds in early 2010. The partnership will provide an extra layer of care and safety to ICU patients at Memorial around the clock, and support the hospitals local physician and nursing staffs in providing high-quality, evidenced-based care in the ICU.

This partnership, bringing intensivist-supported care to Memorial, is another example of the hospitals commitment to provide the most advanced technology and services available on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Advanced ICU Care to speak at SHMs 2010 Annual Meeting

Mary Jo Gorman, M.D., MBA, will present at the Society of Hospital Medicines 2010 Annual Meeting on April 8-11 in Washington, D.C. Her interactive session, ICU Workload: Do You Need Relief?, will offer evidenced-based solutions for hospitalists facing severe workload challenges.

According to industry experts, the hospitalist model will continue to assume greater prominence in the healthcare system. As Americas population ages, demand for ICU care in particular is projected to outpace the future supply of intensivists and pulmonologists. With fewer of these specialists, hospitalists are increasingly being asked to take on ICU patient care, even as the scope, complexity and severity of cases in the ICU continues to surge.
Workshop participants will be encouraged to discuss their particular challenges relating to the expanding roles and responsibilities of hospitalists. These challenges have contributed, in part, to the growth in telemedicine technologies, such as virtual ICU programs, that are designed to improve patient care by delivering limited resources where they are needed most. To learn more about the SHM Annual Meeting, click here.

Our People

Advanced ICU Care builds clinical, IT teams

Advanced ICU Care has continued to focus on building collaborative, collegial teams dedicated to improving patient outcomes and servicing clients. Our clinical team has grown considerably in the past few months, with experienced ICU nurses Cynthia Ems-Scherrer, Carmen Jaco, Diane Poole, Suzanne Schade, Mary Ann Lato and Deb Ziegelmeyer, as well as healthcare associates Cynthia Magruder and Mindi Rosso, joining our team. Five experienced ICU nurse practitioners have also joined the team, bringing advanced education and training in caring for critically ill patients. They are Tifuh Amba, Fiona Aronberg, Connie Douglas, Tim Kell and Christin Prather. Our growing nursing team offers top-notch clinical skills, as well as ongoing guidance and support for client hospitals' local bedside nurses.
Also focused on servicing our clients is Advanced ICU Cares Information Technology team, which provides program configuration, implementation and software and hardware support initiatives for the companys virtual ICU system. Integration Programmer Ralph Normington and Clinical Application Analyst Justin Thuli have recently joined the team. A software engineer, Ralph has more than 10 years experience in software development, quality assurance and technical writing, and Justin brings solid experience in healthcare technical support.

Advanced ICU Care welcomes sales, marketing, operations team members

Advanced ICU Care has welcomed new team members throughout the organization. Experienced sales professionals Kevin Lyons and Gene Tereba have joined Advanced ICU Care as regional sales vice presidents. As members of the national sales team, they will market Advanced ICU Cares virtual ICU program to hospitals and provide ongoing support for their clients. Also joining the team is Inside Sales Consultant Emily Lynn, who brings extensive experience in marketing, sales and support.
Ella Knoepp has joined the company as human resources manager. As Advanced ICU Care continues to grow and deliver its life-saving level of care to hospitals across the country, Ellas 20-plus years experience in human resource management will support the companys focus on building strong IT, clinical and operations teams. Advanced ICU Care also has a growing credentialing team, which helps to expedite program implementation. Donna Kraus has joined the team as credentialing administrative assistant.

Features

St. Marys virtual ICU program results, implementation shared at IHI National Forum

St. Marys Health Centers Vice President of Medical Affairs John Lucio, D.O., along with Advanced ICU Cares Isabelle Kopec, M.D., recently presented at the Institute for Healthcare Improvements National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care.

Their presentation, Using Telemedicine to Prevent the Preventable in the ICU, highlighted the quality outcomes of the virtual ICU program at St. Marys, as well as the use of data to improve results.
Among other key, top-line results since program inception, Dr. Lucio and Dr. Kopec focused on St. Marys significant quality improvements. After program inception, the hospital has seen zero cases of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), standardization of glucose management and a full-day decrease in median days on ventilator. Instituting and supporting the evidence-based best practices that are crucial to these results is a primary component of the virtual ICU program.

Results in overall patient care measures also demonstrate the enormous impact of remote technologies. One year after program inception, ICU mortality at St. Marys dropped by 24 percent and cardiac arrests plunged by 69 percent. Overall, in the four years since implementation, ICU mortality has remained far less than predicted.

Dr. Lucio and Dr. Kopec also reviewed proven success factors for implementing a program of this kind. Transparency and accountability are key to improving quality and operational outcomes in the ICU, with strong support for the initiative from both clinical and executive leadership. Operationally, there must be strong integration between the bedside and virtual ICU teams. Open communication is important, as is clear leadership support, encouragement and accountability.

For more information or to receive a copy of the presentation, contact Isabelle Kopec or Scott Turner.

The Bottom Line

Wall Street Journal article lays out financial, clinical benefits of remote monitoring

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal, The Picture of Health (Oct. 27, 2009), highlights the benefits of remote monitoring in the ICU. Not only do they bring substantial reductions in ICU mortality, length of stay and costs, the article points out, but they also offer a viable solution for many hospitals that lack access to intensivists, given the nationwide shortage.

In addition to cutting costs, the article also points to the $1.2 million increase in revenue that St. Marys Health Center experienced in the first two years after implementing its virtual ICU program with Advanced ICU Care. At St. Marys, shorter lengths of stay have allowed the hospital to take on more patients in the ICU.

Other hospitals featured in the article share similar financial and patient quality results. One system credits its remote monitoring program with a nearly 38 percent reduction in the number of patient transfers; another emphasizes the benefits of early detection of potential problems by remote intensivists, keeping full-blown patient complications at bay and saving lives.

To read the complete article, click here