Remote Healthcare Deployment Reduces Hospital Readmission Rate by 5%, Drives Cost Savings Ahead of IPO

Larry McClain

Larry McClain is a prolific writer specializing in healthcare topics. Not long ago, he authored an article that used real-world case studies to illustrate how telemedicine can help healthcare institutions reduce costs.

Recently, I attended the “Telehealth Innovation Forum” held in California. I was surprised to find that telehealth technologies are being widely adopted in long-term care, and have been proven to reduce costs and improve care conditions for Extended Care Facilities (ECFs).

In March 2014, the U.S. Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act and launched a program aimed at reducing Medicare reimbursement rates for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), as well as decreasing the number of rehabilitation patients readmitted within 30 days after discharge, regardless of cause or condition.

Starting from October 2018, Medicare reimbursement rates for skilled nursing facilities and extended care services will be determined based on performance ratings aimed at preventing patient readmissions.Institutions with poor performance scores will have 2% of their medical insurance reimbursements withheld, and 70% of these funds will be redistributed to institutions that achieve high performance scores.

According to estimates by Pinnacle Health, a community-based healthcare system located in central Pennsylvania, each hospital admission of a patient readmitted within 30 days incurs an additional $8,000 in costs. To mitigate such financial losses, Pinnacle Health launched a telemedicine pilot program in collaboration with Colonial Park Care Center, a 198-bed skilled nursing facility located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

In addition to providing basic wound care, Colonial Park offers a variety of specialized nursing services for discharged patients who may be at risk of stroke, heart disease, or severe pulmonary conditions. These patients require careful monitoring after discharge, yet it is impractical for specialists to conduct daily individual rounds. To address this, Colonial Park has deployed a telemedicine robot capable of autonomously navigating to patients’ bedsides, serving as a “bridge” for communication and consultation between patients and physicians.

Pinnacle and Colonial Park chose to implement this technology because it provides them with a complete end-to-end solution, enabling seamless connectivity between patients and healthcare providers through a secure and reliable telemedicine network.

Telemedicine technology enables the supervising physician at Colonial Park to conduct in-person morning rounds to assess whether patients’ conditions are deteriorating, and then perform remote monitoring from home in the evening using an iPad—robots move from one patient to the next, facilitating communication between the physician and the patients.

Furthermore, nurses at Colonial Park can alert neurologists and other specialists at Pinnacle in the event of a patient emergency, while physicians at Pinnacle can likewise conduct remote consultations via robotics, eliminating the need for in-person visits and avoiding significant disruption to their established schedules.

Cost Savings
Over the three months following the deployment of this technology, Colonial Park’s readmission rate decreased by 5%, equivalent to saving the hospital $50,000.

Following the success of the pilot project at Colonial Park, Pinnacle has expanded its telehealth program to seven additional extended care facilities. In the previous fiscal year, the program saved Pinnacle $250,000 in Medicare penalties.

After years of exposure to science fiction franchises such as *Star Wars*, patients at Colonial Park have become accustomed to devices like telemedicine robots, and the program has received high acclaim for its practical convenience.

In the near future, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) will also face penalties for excessive readmission rates. Telemedicine technology can not only help them avoid such penalties but also improve care conditions for newly discharged patients, making it worthy of clinical promotion.

Compiled by Chen Xin
Editor: Mo Renying