BOSTON—Biofourmis, a global technology-enabled care delivery company, announced WellSpan Health, an eight-hospital integrated delivery system in Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland, has chosen Biofourmis to support the enterprise-wide expansion and management of a bundled program that includes hospital-level and post-acute care at home.
WellSpan has one of the largest such programs in the nation, with more than 400 patients managed per month. WellSpan has also achieved Stage 7 validation from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which is HIMSS' highest ranking, as well as a designation as one of the nation's "Digital Health Most Wired" health systems by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) for eight out of the past 10 years.
WellSpan is replacing its legacy system with Biofourmis's remote patient management solution that spans the care continuum. This solution is configurable and includes a wide range of devices that integrate into the Biofourmis platform to support patients across acuity spectrums and multiple disease states. The platform offers FDA-cleared algorithms that provide clinical insights to drive proactive care. In addition, it offers automated branching logic prompts that can help improve nurse-to-patient ratios—and in turn, patient volumes.
The Biofourmis platform will also be interoperable with WellSpan's Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system to enable operational efficiencies through a unified user experience, enhanced patient management capabilities and billing documentation. This functionality allows WellSpan to utilize established clinical workflows to create a seamless experience for the clinician. Efficient patient onboarding, as well as consistent clinical information sharing between platforms are all benefits of interoperable features within WellSpan's EMR. WellSpan will continue to leverage Biofourmis' in-house integration team to build upon the existing EMR-centric workflows.
Patients are anticipated to be admitted to hospital-at-home for a maximum of seven days and may continue to receive post-discharge care and periodic monitoring for up to 30 days. Throughout the care journey, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered clinical insights will help drive proactive care. The insights are gleaned from continuous or episodic data collected from wearable biosensors and patient-reported outcomes from mobile devices. It also includes continuous single-lead ECG feeds and fall detection to support patients with atrial fibrillation and other cardiac issues.
WellSpan and Biofourmis expect to grow hospital-level and post-acute care-at-home patient volume by 75% within the next three years while easing the burden on clinicians by instilling greater automation into their workflows.
With this anticipated growth, WellSpan expects to further expand care access by maximizing bed availability in their hospital facilities for patients with higher acuity conditions. WellSpan also anticipates its collaboration with Biofourmis, including continuous monitoring and data-driven guidance, will reduce hospital readmission rates while improving patients' outcomes and satisfaction. Quality, outcome, and utilization metrics such as emergency department visits and hospital readmissions will be tracked both 30 and 90 days after receiving remote patient management. In addition, patient experience, and the impact of care at home on chronic condition-related measures such as blood pressure control and diabetes control (HbA1C) will be assessed.
"WellSpan Health is a leading, innovative health system with a clear care-at-home vision and strategy," said Biofourmis chief medical officer and co-founder Maulik Majmudar. "They recognize that a single, comprehensive care solution that enables scalable outcomes based on their unique needs during their care-at-home evolution is essential for driving a thriving program. We look forward to growing with WellSpan and supporting an optimal patient care experience and outcomes."
"Across the continuum of care, Biofourmis meets the needs of providers at any care-at-home stage–whether they are leveling up like WellSpan or just beginning–with market leading configurable technology, virtual care and in-home services available in the market," Majmudar said.
