Health information provider MEDai, Inc., US, part of STM publisher Elsevier, has announced the launch of Pinpoint Review, its new patient-specific early-warning system for hospitals. Pinpoint Review generates predictions for acute-care patients, focusing on the likelihood of a patient developing a complication, like decubitus ulcers, acquiring a hospital-acquired infection or being readmitted. Such events increase hospital mortality rates, boost healthcare costs, compromise patient care quality and safety, and result in lower government reimbursement to hospitals. In addition to the predictions, Pinpoint Review provides a list of triggers behind each prediction, allowing caregivers to understand the 'why' and more effectively generate a plan of action.
The MEDai tool seeks to address the increasing pressure on hospitals from entities such as the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. These organisations are demanding higher quality of care and fewer medical errors. The solution applies predictive models to patient data while patients are still in the hospital and while there is time to adjust care to avoid a negative outcome. Pinpoint Review alerts care providers to patients at risk for developing several of the conditions that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no longer reimburse. After analysing cost and quality data associated with specific CMS 'never events' for several hospitals, MEDai determined that the cost avoidance for conditions like readmission and decubitus ulcers can range in the millions per hospital.
Pinpoint Review is the latest addition to a complete suite of MEDai-developed tools, which includes Pinpoint Quality and Pinpoint Compliance. Pinpoint Quality provides retrospective analysis that helps hospitals and physicians quickly identify areas for improvement. This information makes it possible for clinicians to improve performance, outcomes, patient satisfaction, efficiency and cost savings by understanding the drivers of the negative outcomes and allowing them to compare their performance against national standard benchmarks.
Pinpoint Compliance provides a web-based solution for organisations to collect, report and submit data to the Joint Commission and participate in initiatives related to accreditation, quality improvement and compliance. Pinpoint Review expands the suite by adding the element of real-time decision support, including the application of alerts and predictive models to patient data while patients are still in the hospital.
