Centre using TELUS Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) to save taxpayer dollars, improve patient care

MONTREAL, PQ – TELUS applauds Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre for winning an inaugural Ingenious Award presented by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). The award honours organizations that have demonstrated the use of technology to drive innovation in everything from providing more affordable healthcare to improving service delivery.

The award was presented for the successful implementation of TELUS Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM). TELUS RPM allowed nurses and patients to interact remotely to improve care and reduce the number of appointments for routine check-ins, allowing Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre to increase nurse productivity and lower costs. Registered nurses increased the number of patients managed from 30 to 80 per week, resulting in a 167 per cent increase in productivity. Using RPM, home visits were also reduced from an average of 12 to two which could save the healthcare system approximately $450 per patient.

“We are delighted to share in the success with Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre,” said Paul Lepage, senior vice-president, TELUS Health Solutions. “The results of this program demonstrate how empowering patients with technology to help them manage their health situation while still being in touch with their care team can increase patient satisfaction and reduce costs to the healthcare system. It’s a win-win.”

With the RPM program patients were given real-time access to a registered nurse (RN) via traditional home phone or their choice of home internet or wireless connection.  Best practices for managing different chronic diseases were embedded in the application software and were tailored to each individual patient depending on their health condition and needs.

The patients could access expert care for routine updates in their homes or on the move, reducing the need to come into the centre for appointments. It also allowed nurses to detect any potential issues sooner and relay resulting changes to medications and care plans to the patient before their condition deteriorated, thereby reducing the number of ER and home visits, the number and length of hospitalizations and readmission rates.

“We are always striving to help our patients manage their conditions better,” said André Gagniere, general manager, Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre. “Being able to improve productivity and manage costs allows us to better invest our time and energy in providing high-quality, timely patient care for those in need.

Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre won for the category for large public organization (enterprise). The winners in five categories were recognized in Toronto on June 14, 2011 at a gala awards ceremony. Winners will be profiled in Ingenious magazine, available in both print and online copies.                       

About Pointe-de-l’Île Community Health Centre

By combining the strengths of its three CLSCs and four long term care facilities, the mission of the CSSS de la Pointe-de-l’Île is to: provide the population of the territory with access to the health services, social services and long term care that they need; to orient the population or provide help in navigating the health network; and develop a local health and social services network dedicated to the maintenance and promotion of health.

About TELUS Health Solutions

TELUS Health Solutions is a leader in telehealth, electronic health records, remote patient monitoring, mobile home and community care, consumer health, benefits management and pharmacy management. Our solutions give health authorities, providers, primary care physicians, patients and consumers the power to enhance decision making and improve outcomes for Canadians. TELUS Health Solutions is transforming how information is used across the continuum of care from hospital to home with solutions that foster collaboration, drive prevention and empower care teams and patients. TELUS Health Solutions is Canada’s leading Healthcare IT Company as cited by the Branham Group for three years and for being honoured as the ITAC Health Company of the Year (2008) and Health Transformation Company of the Year (2009). For more information about TELUS Health Solutions, please visit www.telushealth.com and www.telushealthspace.com.

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For more information, please contact:
Janice Murray
TELUS Health Solutions
(416) 487-5007
Janice.Murray@telus.com