Intermountain Healthcare has given a $100,000 grant from Intel to develop new remote monitoring capabilities in its hospitals.

WHY IT MATTERS
The money is helping fund acquisition of 70 new camera systems for use in its Intermountain Patient Safety Monitoring program, giving caregivers an extra "set of eyes and ears," officials say, in rooms where patients may be at risk of falling or pulling out an IV or catheter.

The cameras are deployed across Intermountain hospitals and monitored from Salt Lake City. Caregivers with the monitoring program, working from a secure location, can watch for signs of trouble and then intervene using built-in microphones – notifying clinical staff onsite and letting patients know that help is on the way.

In addition to helping keep patients safer, the system has proven beneficial during the pandemic, helping reduce risk of COVID-19 exposure; one caregiver can monitor 12 patients at a time – reducing the number of people needed to enter or exit patient rooms each day.

The PSM program also helps alleviate strain on staff – freeing up certified nursing assistants, who can help with other staffing needs.

THE LARGER TREND
Since Intermountain's Patient Safety Monitoring program began five years ago, the system has served more than 9,500 patients for a combined total of more than 1.4 million hours.

Intermountain notes that research has shown that such remote monitoring programs have reduced patient falls, increased confidence among patients and families and helped reduce overall costs.

Earlier this month, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain earned a distinction, becoming the first health system in the world to earn three-time Stage 7 status under HIMSS' new requirements for validating Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, the Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model and the Adoption Model for Analytics Maturity.

ON THE RECORD
"At Intermountain, we strive to offer the best possible care to our patients and caregivers. While this pandemic has been taxing on both parties, it is gratifying that there are ways to help alleviate the burdens of the pandemic one way or another to these populations," said Andrew Davis, project lead for Patient Safety Monitoring at Intermountain Healthcare, in a statement about the new Intel funding. "We are always strategizing and finding ways to improve safety and this grant helps fulfill that."

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com
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