Nashville-based Ardent Health Services says it will roll out a new remote care platform from Cadence to help its providers better manage chronic conditions such as hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

WHY IT MATTERS

With Cadence's digital infrastructure, Ardent’s remote care platform can support an increasing number of conditions, acuities and devices over time, according to the announcement.

The partnership was successfully rolled out at Utica Park Clinic in Ardent’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company says.

Driving implementation is Ardent’s "commitment to improving patient outcomes, reducing Medicare spending by preventing avoidable inpatient hospital admissions and improving quality and access to care for all beneficiaries, particularly those with complex chronic conditions and serious illness."

THE LARGER TREND

RPM is proving its efficacy, and many healthcare systems are expanding its uses, such as combining it with electronic health records and separate telehealth carts. 

It also addresses deeper issues dragging down patient outcomes. Mount Sinai Health is tackling digital health inequity with robust remote patient monitoring, according to chief leaders of the New York City-based multi-hospital system.

They told Healthcare IT News that RPM enables quicker and more intelligent interventions that improve health outcomes, prevent avoidable emergency and inpatient utilizations and reduce costs.

Cathleen Mathew, director of condition management and population health at Mount Sinai Health Partners, said the value demonstrated to their patients was clear. 

An internal study of a quality-improvement-matched cohort of 218 patients – controlled for age, sex, race and diagnosis – examined the effects of RPM on blood pressure control and healthcare utilization versus usual in-clinic care.

"Patients using RPM were found to have lower rates of emergency department and inpatient visits over 12 months – significant to the population health goals of our organization," she said.

ON THE RECORD

“At Ardent, we're looking at everything through the lens of the consumer – putting people at the center of the care model," said Marty Bonick, the health system's president and chief executive officer, about the planned RPM rollout.. 

"Healthcare is complex, but doing things the way we've always done them doesn't serve our patients or caregivers," he added. "Our partnership with Cadence embodies our purpose of caring for others by putting in place the technology and clinical protocols to deliver better care, alleviate unnecessary burdens on our clinicians and improve the overall healthcare experience across all touchpoints."

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.