The EarlySense patient monitoring system can save up to $20,000 per bed

 

Monitoring sensors within the EarlySense system measure a patient’s vitals such as heart and breathing rate, and other parameters to prevent falls and pressure ulcers, and can save hospitals billions of dollars, suggests the peer-reviewed report published in Critical Care Medicine(2).  

 

Evidence suggests this technology can assist clinicians in early detection of patient deterioration, thus reducing mortalities caused by critical events such as sepsis, cardiac arrests, etc. As a result, the system has also proven to reduce length of stay in hospitals, delivering cost savings.  The $15 billion figure was concluded by extending cost savings to the 750,000 relevant hospital beds in the U.S. hospital system (not taking into account those patients outside the hospital setting).

 

EarlySense has the potential to reduce falls by over 300,000; reduce pressure ulcers by over 1 million; bring ICU days down by 1.7 million; and eliminate critical events by 250,000 annually in the US.  Used within medical-surgical units, EarlySense can deliver a return on investment in less than a year, suggests a clinical study(2). With cost savings becoming a priority to healthcare facilities worldwide, patient monitoring tools like EarlySense can help healthcare facilities not only meet their financial targets, but also provide better quality of care.  

 

Being trialled at North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in their elderly care and surgical wards, Steve Heavisides, Ward Matron said, “It has already made a real difference to the care we can give to patients, particularly during the night where we have seen real improvements in care” NICE (National Institute of Care and Excellence) has also published a review(3) on EarlySense commissioned by NHS England and produced in support of the NHS ‘Five Year Forward View’, as one of a number of steps which will accelerate innovation in new treatments and diagnostics.

 

Managing Director of BES Rehab Ltd – Distributors of EarlySense in the UK said, “If we extrapolate the figures from the US to the number of hospital beds (4,5,6,7) in the UK, the potential savings to the NHS would be £2.6bn.”  

 

 

 

Notes to the Editor:  

1. I would request you to review this news and publish it, as it is a revolutionary healthcare technology recently released to hospital settings in the UK.    

2. I would like to highlight the Frost and Sullivan report(1) which reviews the cost benefits of implementing EarlySense in hospitals to deliver savings through early detection of patient deterioration, reduced length of stay in hospitals, and reduced incidence of Pressure Ulcers and Falls.  

3. I would also like to bring to your attention the Sepsis news published by BBC Health on 13th July 2016 that focusses on Sepsis related mortality which can be prevented in hospitals in the UK. According to the Frost and Sullivan Report(1), detecting early signs of deterioration with EarlySense can prevent Sepsis-related deaths, and save every hospital $32,123 per year (based on 1.2 preventable cases detected per hospital per year, which is a conservative number)(2)  

4. The cost saving of up to $20,000 per bed in the press release was based on the costs of a hospital day at $1448, an ICU day at $2575, one incident of Pressure Ulceration at $15229, and the average net benefit of implementing EarlySense per patient at $710 as derived from the Return on Investment Analysis report(2).    

5. This news has been covered by Healthcare IT News, Healthcare Finance, Health Tech Insider, Clinical Innovation + Technology, RT Magazine, DotMed, and Healthcare Dive across the U.S.   

 

 

References: 

1. A Frost and Sullivan White Paper , Finding Top - Line Opportunities in a Bottom - Line Healthcare Market: Revenue Generation Opportunities Created by a n Innovative Contact - Free Continuous Monitoring So lution , 2016.  

2. Brown et al., T he Return on Investment of Implementing a Continuous Monitoring System in General Medical Surgical Units, Critical Care Medicine (2014) 42, 1862-8.

3. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, EarlySense for Heart and Respiratory monitoring and predicting patient deterioration , https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib49, August 2016.

4. Welsh Government Website, Annual report which provides information on the nu mber of NHS beds at Wales and Local Health Board levels , http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/nhs-beds/?lang=en , August 2016.  

5. Our NHS Scotland Website , Current Facts, http://www.ournhsscotland.com/65-years/65-facts/current-facts , August 2016.

6. Nuffield Trust Website, Average daily number of overnight beds available in England , http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/node/2542, August 2016.  

7. Northern Ireland Government Website, Release of Northern Ireland Inpatient, Day Case and Outpatient Hospital Statistics for 2014/15 , https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/news/release-northern-ireland-inpatient-day-case-andoutpatient-hospital-statistics-201415, August 2016