University Hospitals expanding remote patient monitoring technology

University Hospitals in Cleveland is expanding its remote patient monitoring technology system-wide, the health system said this week.

The goals are enhancing patient safety, improving the patient experience and increasing operational efficiencies, UH said.

The system said it’s among the first health systems in the country to deploy Masimo Radius VSM continuous monitoring, which is wirelessly connected to the Masimo Patient SafetyNet, a remote patient monitoring system, for centralized remote patient surveillance, for generally admitted pediatric and adult patients.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT 

Remote patient monitoring gained popularity at hospitals nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to safely discharge potentially contagious patients while watching their vital signs at home.

The health system had already started implementing some of the technology pre-pandemic, but in 2020 expanded its use to monitor discharged patients as well.

Now, 1,500 beds at UH hospitals across Northeast Ohio will be equipped with a wearable device that electronically transmits health data to a patient’s care team via their electronic health record. The unit is completely unattached and allows patients to move freely while tracking data points like temperature, heart rate, oxygen levels and blood pressure.

UH is expanding this type of monitoring to the most standard level of care, generally admitted patients. Since intensive care patients are already continuously monitored, this means essentially all UH in-patients will now be observed remotely, the system said.

“The adoption of this technology has many benefits not just for patients and nurses, but for our entire UH staff,” said UH Chief Nursing Executive Michelle Hereford. “These include streamlining operations for our purchasing and supply chain teams, as well as simplifying cleaning and maintenance plans for our environmental services and clinical engineering teams.”

The technology should be fully implemented by fall 2026.

THE LARGER TREND 

Remote patient monitoring continues to gain steam. In February, Philips announced a new program to provide access to remote patient monitoring and personalized health coaching for pregnant and postpartum people with maternal hypertension and diabetes in an initial 50 counties across Georgia.

Philips, a global healthcare technology company headquartered in the Netherlands, is partnering with Amerigroup, CareSource Georgia and Peach State Health Plan in the program that supports the Georgia Healthy Babies Act. It aims to improve access to prenatal and postpartum healthcare to improve outcomes.