In partnership with Royal Philips, Banner Health has drastically cut costs with a new telehealth program. By allowing patients with multiple chronic conditions to be treated from home, they have reduced hospitalizations by 45 percent while cutting costs by 27 percent.

The program, called the Intensive Ambulatory Care (IAC) program, is in its pilot stages as an arm of Banner Health's greater telehealth initiative.

The IAC program focuses on the top five percent of the most complex and highest cost patients. Those individuals account for 50 percent of the Arizona-based health network's expenses.
Expenses relating to acute and long-term care cases were reduced by 32 percent, an improvement credited primarily to the decrease in hospitalizations. Before implementing the program, Banner Health had 11.5 hospitalizations per 100 patients per month, after enrollment those figures dropped to 6.3 hospitalizations per 100 patients.

The program provides a system through which intensivist PCPs, nurses, and a broader care team collect and analyze objective and subjective health data to identify early stages of deterioration and prevent adverse events.

"The results of our at-home telehealth pilot with Philips have been dramatic and are indicative of the exponential success such a program could have by engaging patients in their own care and building a strong support system around them," said Dr. Hargobind Khurana, Banner Health's senior medical director of Health Management, in a statement.

The program was launched in 2013 and aims to improve patient outcomes, increase care team efficiency, and prevent enrolled patients from entering the acute care environment, (where costs are significantly higher).

"As we continue to expand this program, we anticipate seeing further proof that telehealth programs can address readmission rates, reduce costs, and improve the health and quality of life for patients with multiple chronic diseases," said Khurana.

More Industry Headlines