At our meeting on Friday, April 15, we heard presentations on 1) Critical
Care technology by VISICU and 2) at-risk contracting by Jim Oakes of
Chrysalis Health Strategies.
One of the most important areas of hospital technology for purposes of
saving lives and managing costs is the ICU. VISICU, based in Baltimore, is
a leading company in providing technology for this purpose. Visicu’s eICU®
solution is a remote-care strategy designed to improve ICU care processes
while leveraging scarce intensivist resources. Through a proactive care
model that reduces clinical complications, VISICU claims that the eICU
solution has been effective at reducing mortality by more than 25%. The
eICU system combines advanced software systems and telemedicine to create a
unique approach for off-site hospital personnel to deliver critical care.
The presentation was given by David Driscoll, who is the Company's National
Account Director.
The presentation by Mr. Oakes focused on a growing trend toward at-risk
contracting for technology services by health care systems. Chrysalis
Health Strategies is a consultant to many of such institutions on issues of
maximizing the effectiveness of information technology and has worked with
several of them to make their purchases through a sharing of financial risk
between the vendor and the health care provider.