Integrated healthcare provider Apollo Hospitals is now rolling out its connected care programme across its entire network in India. 

This follows the recent nationwide expansion of a similar programme for its partner hospitals, aiming to build the largest connected healthcare ecosystem in the country. 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

According to a press statement, Apollo's Comprehensive Connected Care service provides a real-time view of the patient from several care touchpoints along the patient journey – from ambulance, emergency, and in-patient to post-surgery and home care. 

It features an AI-powered patient monitoring system that can continuously monitor patients' conditions and detect early signs of deterioration. It can also detect critical and severely critical cases and notify emergency teams to take immediate action.

The system also allows remote monitoring from a central command centre, nurse stations, and mobile devices. Apollo's regional command centres have also been enabled to remotely assess patients' conditions and recommend further care. 

Since it was tried out early this year, the connected care programme has helped save an hour of nursing time per shift, reduce ICU readmissions by 50%, detect up to 10 early warning critical alerts per 100 monitored beds, and achieve almost zero emergency calls. 

At present, Apollo units in Hyderabad and Bangalore have over a thousand beds already equipped with the real-time patient monitoring system; 2,000 more across the network are set to be transformed into connected beds by the end of the year.

WHY IT MATTERS

In a recent pilot, Apollo's connected care programme showed its capability not to miss any critical event and ensure patient safety in every step of the care journey. 

"As it advances, patients will experience better health outcomes and increased access to healthcare. Clinicians [will also be] able to maximise their time, make more informed decisions, and deliver continuous care," Dr Sangita Reddy, managing director at Apollo, said about the programme. 

THE LARGER TREND

Last week, Apollo announced the expansion of Apollo Connect nationwide. Aiming to improve the accessibility, affordability and experience of care in underserved communities, the programme extends support services to partner small hospitals and nursing homes, including eICU, diagnostics, surgical consultations, remote monitoring, clinical and quality training, and accreditation support. 

These services will allow them to achieve superior clinical outcomes, improve patient retention, save costs and strengthen business performance, Apollo claims. It will also enable them to help patients access care closer to home.

Based on a separate media statement, over the past two years of its pilot, Apollo Connect has assisted its partners in setting up their own in-house diagnostics lab, raising ICU occupancy by 50%, and handling more complex emergency cases.

"Every hospital and nursing home is an opportunity for the healthcare ecosystem to reach more patients and save more lives. We are confident that by empowering these institutions, we will be able to build a world-class healthcare system in India where everyone has access to superior facilities and opportunities for the best treatments. We truly believe in the power of the ecosystem coming together and we’re set to go the extra mile to make this a reality," Dr Reddy said about Apollo Connect.

"As care providers, the imperative for us is to collaborate and support each other to ensure no sick person goes untreated for lack of access to quality care. It is with this commitment that we have created the Apollo Connect programme, an initiative towards building healthcare together, by bringing healthcare providers on one platform to provide superior care and keep patients closer to home… Collaboration is an immensely powerful tool, and we believe that by coming together, we can truly strengthen India’s healthcare ecosystem and ensure every individual gets the right support they need," Apollo chairman and founder Dr Prathap C Reddy also commented.