Many procedures are being pushed to outpatient settings when clinically appropriate, driven in part by payers, both public and private. As a result, a host of technology solutions are emerging designed to help ASCs provide quality pre-, intra- and post-operative care more efficiently.
During The Business & Operations of ASCs, a live event hosted by Becker's ASC Review, in a session sponsored by Zimmer Biomet, orthopedic surgeon Nicholas Frisch*, MD, discussed technology solutions in the outpatient setting and how those solutions are poised to help patients, surgeons and outcomes research in new and innovative ways.
Thoughts from Dr. Frisch:
1. Orthopedic procedures will increasingly take place in outpatient settings. Orthopedic procedures in outpatient settings are projected to grow 86 percent from 2019 to 2024, with joint replacements leading the subservice line according to Advisory Board's Market Scenario Planner Tool. These surgeries typically involve extensive pre- and post-surgery preparation, patient monitoring, and pre-hab and re-hab.
2. Existing challenges may be magnified based on the market and circumstance. Traditional forms of pre-operative and post-operative patient education, therapy and check-ins tend to have logistical problems and limitations imposed by assorted circumstances — what the payer will and won't pay for, or availability of prehab and rehab therapists, for example. These problems are often magnified for patients in rural communities, where provider choices for various services are narrower. "Access is difficult in a lot of rural communities," Dr. Frisch said. "And more importantly, communication can be challenging. I can't tell you how many patients I see who come in and say they are scheduled for therapy, but the facility can't get them in for six weeks."
3. ASC technology solutions offer enhanced efficiencies. Dr. Frisch's office is using mymobility®, a care management platform that patients’ smartphone to help deliver support and guidance to patients through a connected experience giving providers a view of a patient's physiologic data, such as step count and other activity tracking. Providers can use the data to monitor how a patient is recovering post-operatively, beyond just hearing from patients through phone calls and during office visits. mymobility delivers continuous data and patient-reported feedback to facilitate care, outcomes and satisfaction about a patient’s surgical preparation and recovery.
And as quality data is increasingly tracked and accounted for, the reimbursement process will increasingly rely on data for compensation. Being able to see near-real-time data that shows patient progress and recovery program compliance can help care teams intervene early, when needed.
4. Technology solutions provide data that can be synthesized and analyzed across products. Healthcare Professionals are presented with data opportunities that extend beyond software applications and physiologic data collection with products such as ROSA® Robotics and mymobility with Apple Watch. With the OrthoIntel Orthopedic Intelligence Platform, this data can then be connected, aggregated, and analyzed to explore data across the continuum of care to enable valuable clinical insights on variables that impact patient outcomes and experiences.
The push toward ASC-based procedures brings a host of operational challenges for care providers and health systems. But the shift to ASCs has also sparked a new generation of technology solutions that not only change the ASC experience for patients and providers, but create the opportunity to gather new insights into patient care with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
To learn more about Becker's live events, click here.
This material is intended for healthcare professionals. Distribution to any other recipient is prohibited. Zimmer Biomet does not practice medicine. For indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, potential adverse effects and patient counselling information, see the package insert or contact your local representative; visit www.zimmerbiomet.com for additional product information. Patients must have a compatible smart phone to utilize mymobility. Not all patients are candidates for the use of this product and surgeons should evaluate individually to determine which patients are appropriate for therapy at home. All names used in the mymobility app examples are fictitious. No identification with actual patients or health care professionals is intended or should be inferred. The Zimmer Biomet Connected Health mymobility Application.
*Paid Zimmer Biomet Consultant
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