After a successful pilot, McLaren Health Care is expanding its program to use artificial intelligence technology to monitor patients with permanent conditions.

People with cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or other persistent medical concerns can receive text messages, emails, or phone calls however they prefer and automated questions. Must respond to a disease-specific list.

Responses indicative of complications are digitally flagged and sent to the supervising nurse.

The aim is to help people before this situation becomes a crisis. McLaren’s High Performance Network Care His Coordination His Director Andrea Phillips said: She oversees care management initiatives for the Grand Blanc-based healthcare system.

At a time when hospitals and clinics across the state are suffering from understaffing, this will allow one nurse to supervise 1,500-1,600 patients instead of 100-120.

The health system launched the program in March, enrolling more than 1,700 patients in the first few months. Pilot his phase will conclude this summer and McLaren is working on a permanent programme.

Phillips said he hopes to enroll a total of about 7,000 patients.

Attendees come from across the state, from the McLaren Northern Michigan in Petoskey, Michigan, to the Carmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, to the McLaren St. Luke’s in Maumee, near Toledo, Ohio.

This program started with patients with COPD and heart failure. McLaren spokesperson David Jones said in an email that it is expanding to include patients with diabetes, end-stage renal disease and sepsis. physical care may also be included.

Phillips said the focus is on patients with COPD, heart failure, and those discharged with high-risk conditions. “So that when they get home, they have everything they need and they deal with the problem so they don’t have to go back to the hospital or be readmitted.”

It’s too early to assess the data, Phillips said, but the first numbers suggest that people who participate in the program go to the hospital less often than those who don’t.

The number of readmissions has “decreased significantly” and anecdotally, patients say they would otherwise have gone to the emergency department, Jones said.

Phillips said the feedback has been positive.

“They feel supported, they feel like they have a supporter,” she said of her patients.

A nurse will typically contact you within 90 minutes of a negative response or phone request. “So they have that personalized service.”

In contrast, people may hold or wait to receive a response from the clinic, and may even take longer to make an appointment.

Jones sent some patient comments to reporters. They appreciate surveillance, attention and care. “It helped me take my medication better because it helped me pay attention and realize I had frequent breathing problems,” one person said in June.

The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated several health care problems in states and countries, exacerbating or accelerating shortages in several areas, including respiratory therapists and nurses. It forecasts an average of 194,500 registered nurse vacancies per year from 2020 to 2030. According to the American Hospital Association, 10% of hospitals report staffing shortages to the government.

Additionally, baby boomers are aging, increasing the need for healthcare. Phillips estimates that about 90% of those enrolled in McLaren’s program are over the age of 65.

The healthcare system is looking for innovative ways.

“I’m not saying healthcare doesn’t have resources,” Phillips said. “But how can we use what we have smarter?”

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