Using Telehealth to Reduce Readmissions

Telehealth offers many advantages for patients with chronic conditions, for patients who require extended rehabilitation periods, for patients living in remote or rural areas, and to shorten the time for patients to return to the family and home healthcare.  Telemedicine is well adapted to support wound care because of the long post-acute rehabilitation and to SCI patients who are at high risk of recurring pressure ulcers.

Consider two specific patients:  a patient with a Grade III or IV pressure ulcer and a spinal cord injury (SCI) patient.  In the case of a patient that was hospitalized with a Grade III or IV wound, she or he will likely be hospitalized for several days, until the wound stabilizes and begins to show signs of healing.  Next, the patient normally goes to a skilled nursing facility until he or she can safely return home for continued care with visiting nurses.  These wounds frequently take months to heal and can get worse if not carefully treated.

In the other case, the SCI patient, pressure ulcers are a constant worry because the patient lacks mobility and sensitivity where the wounds can form.  SCI patients have recurring pressure ulcers that result in hospitalization, surgeries, and other complications.

Sophisticated redistribution surfaces have not been practical for use by non-professional caregivers in home healthcare settings, which leads pressure ulcers to be a frequent cause of hospital readmissions.

Active Intelligent pressure control paired with remote monitoring of the bed system by trained medical staff can be effectively used in both of these scenarios to shorten the institutionalized rehab time and to reduce the likelihood of readmissions.

 Active Intelligent SensorCell Protection

The LeviSense Active Intelligent system provides an extra layer of protection when the physicians and nurses cannot be there.  One-touch comfort settings monitor and regulate the surface hundreds of times per minute to protect the patient from excessive pressure.  The pressure mapping is displayed at bedside to assure the system’s actively protection is functioning.

Active Monitoring

The LeviSense systems can be monitored by a professional healthcare provider remotely.  The system records the bed settings and each change made to them to give a complete record of the changes of operational modes and pressure settings as they occur.  The system does a periodic recording of the patient’s form, position and cell pressure scan.  System status is monitored and alarms bedside and remote caregivers in the case of a fault.

LeviSense Active Intelligent SensorCell Protection, One-Touch Comfort and tele-Monitoring get patients home quicker and can reduce the incidence of readmittance.