Banner Heart Hospital, in partnership with Tri-City Cardiology, Banner Home Care and Banner Hospice, REM Medical and Cigna Healthcare, was recently named as the first accredited Heart Failure Institute in Arizona by the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium.1 The accreditation recognizes the hospital’s focus on delivering superior care and quality outcomes for patients with heart failure. One of the key milestones of accreditation focused on improved transitional care, which includes follow-up care in the home after hospital discharge.
As part of this initiative, Banner Home Care partnered with Royal Philips Electronics to provide telehealth services to patients with heart failure and other chroenic diseases.
Banner Home Care has provided telemonitoring to more than 550 patients in the past three years, and has achieved a readmission rate of 3.8 percent for patients on telehealth, versus a national readmission rate of 29 percent for Medicare-certified home health agencies.2
Banner Home Care, in conjunction with Banner Heart Hospital, developed its successful telehealth program using Philips technology. Patients with chronic diseases like heart failure take their own vital sign measurements at home using small wireless devices. Clinicians monitor patient data such as weight, blood pressure, pulse, and blood oxygen levels on a daily basis through a secure website, and send short health assessment surveys and education on managing chronic conditions through a home hub device called the TeleStation. With this telehealth offering in place, Banner Home Care can make more timely care decisions and intervene earlier, leading to fewer rehospitalizations and enhanced patient self-care.
