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eICU Partnership Announced
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Media Releases
Regional Electronic ICU Partnership Announced
(May 6, 2005) — In a collaborative effort to improve the care of the critically ill and reduce rising healthcare costs, three eastern Wisconsin healthcare systems, in conjunction with the Medical College of Wisconsin, have formed a first-of-its-kind partnership to provide electronic intensive care services to five hospitals affiliated with these systems. An electronic ICU makes the services of intensive care specialists available to the patients of hospital ICUs through the use of remote monitoring technology.
Quality Health Solutions, Inc. is a joint venture of ThedaCare of the Fox Cities, Bellin Health in Green Bay, and Froedtert & Community Health in Milwaukee. The Medical College of Wisconsin is a strategic partner in Critical Care Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary formed to implement the electronic ICU.
The Medical College will provide board certified intensivists, including faculty and community physicians, to staff the electronic ICU.
Participating hospitals include Froedtert Hospital, Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, and Bellin Hospital. The remote monitoring technology will be provided by a company called VISICU. |
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The concept of an eICU® center was first developed by two intensive care physicians from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in response to economic barriers faced by most hospitals to staff their ICUs with board-certified intensive care specialists. In 1998, they founded VISICU, developing the monitoring and off-site “command center” technology, software and protocols to provide remote intensive care specialist coverage to hospital ICUs.
“That three separate and autonomous healthcare systems and a premier medical school have come together to leverage technology to improve outcomes, reduce costs, adopt standard care processes, and develop common clinical protocols in five distinct hospitals separated by hundreds of miles, is remarkable in and of itself in the increasingly competitive world of healthcare,” said William D. Petasnick, president and CEO of Froedtert & Community Health. “It’s a first here in Wisconsin, and as far as we know, the entire nation.”
Sentara Healthcare System in Norfolk, VA, became the first to utilize the VISICU system in June 2000. A June 2004 study showed that after implementing the eICU center, Sentara saw a 20% drop in ICU mortality, a 17% reduction in both ICU and overall length of stay, and a savings of nearly $4.9 million annually. Similar results have been reported by other health systems using VISICU technology, including Sutter Health Care in northern California, Advocate Health System in Chicago, and Memorial Hermann in Houston. There was also measurable, statistically significant improvement in physician and nurse satisfaction after the eICU system was in place.
“This partnership means that a board-certified intensive care specialist will be available to every single ICU patient at all five hospitals,” Petasnick said. He noted that all of the studies suggest that the combined expertise of the intensivist and attending physician result in significant improvements in outcomes for patients.
“Our work together to implement the eICU center is another demonstration of our partnership philosophy, and opens the door to a nearly endless list of collaborative quality improvement efforts among the partners across the continuum of care – from the hospital to the doctor’s office and everywhere in between. It is a real opportunity to develop benchmarks of care that will benefit our respective patients, and be modeled by providers across the country,” Petasnick said.
The eICU center will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will begin this fall, and include intensive care beds at Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center and Froedtert Hospital. Implementation is expected to be complete in the first or second quarter of 2006, when Bellin Hospital in Green Bay and Community Memorial Hospital are scheduled to go on-line. In all, 129 critical care beds at five hospitals will be monitored from a central command center in Milwaukee. The initial cost for all participating hospitals is approximately $5 million.
It is anticipated that once the eICU center is successfully implemented at all of the partner hospitals, Critical Care Solutions will offer eICU services to other Wisconsin hospitals.
About Froedtert & Community Health
Froedtert & Community Health (www.froedtert.com & www.communitymemorial.com) is a regional hospital system formed in 2001 by Froedtert Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital. Joining the capabilities of a 196-bed community hospital and a 434-bed academic medical center, Froedtert & Community Health delivers nationally recognized, cost-effective healthcare treatment and technologies from two hospitals and multiple clinic and program sites in Southeastern Wisconsin. In 2004, adult patient admissions for Froedtert & Community Health exceeded 31,000.
About ThedaCare™ ThedaCare™ (www.thedacare.org) is a community health system consisting of three hospitals, Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center and New London Family Medical Center, ThedaCare Physicians, ThedaCare Behavioral Health, a home care and senior services division and other healthcare services. Joint ventures include the Fox Cities Community Health Center, Gold Cross Ambulance and the Appleton Heart Institute. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with 5,000 employees.
About Bellin HealthBellin Health (www.bellin.org) is an integrated healthcare delivery system comprised of Bellin Hospital, Bellin Psychiatric Centers and Bellin Health Family Medical Centers, 16 primary physician clinics located throughout Northeast Wisconsin; and Bellin College of Nursing. Bellin Health is known for its emphasis on preventive health care and is the region’s leader in heart, orthopedics, digestive health, mental health and primary care medicine.
For more information, contact:
Carolyn Bellin, Froedtert Hospital, 414.805.2057; Cindy Anderson, Community Memorial Hospital, 262.257.3200; John Gillespie, ThedaCare, 920.830.5846; Tom Schoffelman, Bellin Health, 920.433.7841
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