Background
A major health system independently investigated avenues to elevate patient care in its intensive care units (ICUs). They believed that adding 24 x 7 x 365 monitoring services via a Tele-ICU capability, where their patients would be remotely monitored by skilled, trained and US board certified/eligible intensivist physicians and critical care nurses, was a value-added solution that could be effective in boosting patient outcomes, best practice compliance, and bedside staff satisfaction. The health system chose to partner with Hicuity Health based on the company’s extensive 60+ facility implementation experience and its track record of results achieved over the largest client base in the industry.
The Challenge: Resources and Experience for Implementation
The health system was committed to improving ICU patient outcomes by leveraging around-the-clock intensivist coverage via a Tele-ICU program. However, to successfully institute such a program, there were issues that need to be collaboratively addressed:
- The health system already had operationalized a robust change management system, but their process had not previously supported the complex requirements of implementing a Tele-ICU
- The successful implementation and ongoing management of a Tele-ICU necessitates significant, experienced resources to direct the clinical, technical and project management requirements in order to yield outstanding clinical and compelling financial results for their hospitals.
- The project required the combined efforts to successfully activate multiple facilities in multiple regions on time and on plan to ensure minimal disruption and maximum success.
The health system determined that they required a Tele-ICU partner with proven track records of unimpeded implementations and positive patient outcomes if they were to meet their goals for timeline and measurable results.
Solution
The clear choice was to partner with Hicuity Health due to the company’s experience and reputation gained from successfully implementing and managing Tele-ICU solutions at over 60 hospitals nationwide. The quality of Hicuity Health’s program is evidenced by their clients’ documented improvements in length of stay, mortality and a variety of other clinical measures, decreases in bedside staff turnover, and enhanced compliance with established best clinical practices.
Once the client chose Hicuity Health as their partner, both parties did not hesitate to mobilize their resources and build momentum around implementing the Tele-ICU program. Hicuity Health led initial assessment efforts to determine the scope of implementing the Tele-ICU service across the selected sites. Regular, transparent, two-way communication was imperative to set and maintain project goals, coordinate logistics and stay informed as to the progress of action items.
It was critical that key stakeholders from the system’s corporate office as well as teams from each individual hospital were involved contributors to the design and roll out of the program. In this case, system wide team leads were established for each functional area (technical, clinical, project management). These team leads interfaced with hospital liaisons for each functional area at the individual sites. Joined by a dedicated Hicuity Health implementation team, the collaborative efforts of these cross-functional and cross-organizational teams worked together to drive Hicuity Health’s proven implementation process at each individual hospital.
The significant resources employed by Hicuity Health, combined with the insight gained from a 100% success rate, a perfect record of being on time and on budget, at over 60 implementations nationwide, allowed Hicuity Health to deliver significant efficiencies when scaling the ramp up and roll out process:
- Clinical Integration: Collaboration between Hicuity Health critical care-trained physicians and nurses and client hospitals’ bedside staff
is imperative to driving proactive, high-quality patient care. Hicuity Health Medical Directors began and maintained an on-site presence, collaborating with facility teams on how to integrate the Tele-ICU program into the client’s workflows and develop rapport with bedside physicians. Hicuity Health blended on-site and virtual training for the clinical staff at each hospital and provided extensive instruction to ‘super-users’ who then served as a training resource for their respective facility. - Technical: The client uses several of the many EMR and vital sign vendors with whom Hicuity Health has considerable experience. Hicuity Health managed the interface process for each facility which allows the seamless exchange of patient data between Hicuity Health and client hospitals.
- Turnkey Credentialing: Because Hicuity Health is accredited by the Joint Commission, their client sites could take advantage of credentialing by proxy. This means due to the high standards of Hicuity Health’s credentialing process, once physicians and nurses were credentialed with Hicuity Health, their client would not have to duplicate the process, conserving time and resources.
Outcome
Turnkey Credentialing: Because Hicuity Health is accredited by the Joint Commission, their client sites could take advantage of credentialing by proxy. This means due to the high standards of Hicuity Health’s credentialing process, once physicians and nurses were credentialed with Hicuity Health, their client would not have to duplicate the process, conserving time and resources.
As a result, multiple additional hospitals from the system have contracted with Hicuity Health to implement its Tele-ICU solution, while still others are currently investigating the service for their own facilities.
