Partners HealthCare At Home Strengthens Services with Philips

BOSTON and ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Partners HealthCare At Home has selected Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) to support its growing telemonitoring services, providing improved clinical oversight for newly discharged patients and those with chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure. With this enhanced care, Partners HealthCare At Home nursing staff can remotely monitor a patient's health by tracking vital signs and intervening earlier with medical attention, successfully reducing the rate of costly hospital readmissions.

"Remote patient monitoring does more than improve care coordination," says Sue Beausoliel, vice president of operations at Partners HealthCare at Home. "It provides a tool for patients to actively engage in their own health management. As the healthcare industry focuses more on improving patient experience and outcomes while reducing costs, technologies such as home monitoring contribute toward improved quality of life. Instead of having to wait for the next appointment, this real-time data daily monitoring helps us connect with patients, track their health status, alert us to a problem and intervene earlier before it becomes full blown."

The agency has already demonstrated positive results with telemonitoring through its Chronic Cardiac Care program. Since 2006, PHH has served 1,200 heart failure patients through this program and found a 50 percent reduction in readmission rates for enrolled patients, with an estimated savings of $10 million in health care costs.

Partners selected Philips as its telemonitoring partner based on its proven track record in implementing their other home based innovative clinical programs — Lifeline and Medication Dispensing — for PHH patients. These services transform the way care is delivered by creating the shortest path to the best care, from hospital to the home. Developed in collaboration with clinicians and health systems, Philips' hospital to home programs equip providers with a range of tools and services that lay the foundation for long-term success with telehealth.

The first 200 home monitors were installed in patient homes in less than two weeks. Partners utilized its own network of installers as a key asset in establishing monitoring services in patients' homes and providing the training needed to ensure both clinical and patient adoption.

"Telehealth is so much more than a monitoring technology or a patient engagement app – it's a coordinated set of clinical programs that's key to enabling the future of healthcare and addressing the needs of our aging population," said Brian Rosenfeld, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer of Philips Healthcare Hospital to Home. "Since 2006, Partners has been on the forefront of telehealth, and we're proud to help them drive the next phase of their strategic vision."

For more information on Philips Hospital to Home clinical programs, please visit: http://www.hospitaltohome.philips.com.

For more information on Partners HealthCare at Home, please visit: http://partnersathome.org/index.aspx.

About Royal Philips:
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2013 sales of EUR 23.3 billion and employs approximately 115,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Partners HealthCare At Home
Partners HealthCare at Home is dedicated to delivering compassionate care across the healthcare continuum for persons recovering from or learning to live fully with illness, injury and disability, by offering high quality in-home support services, where the comfort and security of familiar surroundings can greatly enhance quality of life. Partners HealthCare at Home is affiliated with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network as key parts of Partners Continuing Care, the non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare, founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

Contact:
Kathy O'Reilly
Philips
(o) 978-659-2638 (mobile) 978-221-8919
[email protected]
Twitter: @kathyoreilly

Contact:
Amy Magin Wong
Partners HealthCare at Home
(o) 617.952.6856 (mobile) 978.604.7406
[email protected]
Twitter: @PartnersatHome

SOURCE Philips Healthcare