Yavapai Regional ready to test pop health platform

Initial pilot will test usability and whether it reduces ER visits, readmissions, says Boyd Murayama.


Yavapai Regional Medical Center is implementing a population health platform to support remote monitoring of patients who are using medical devices in their homes, aiming to better assess biometric data and patient symptoms to improve their overall health and reduce hospital readmissions.

The platform, from Vivify Health, is expected to go live this month. So far, the biggest challenge has been interfacing it to the organization’s Cerner electronic health record system, says Boyd Murayama, director of physician practices at the hospital.

Yavapai Regional, located in Prescott, Ariz., serves a large population of Medicare patients, and a key goal of the Vivify Health product is to better manage their use of emergency department services and lower costs. The product also supports telemedicine consultations.

Early tests with patients found that the system is easy to use and patients like it. When live, the hospital over six months will test its use with 50 patients who have heart failure and two other underlying conditions to measure outcomes, readmissions and ER visits. Testing will determine if patients are more likely to stay out of the hospital or ER and if overall healthcare costs for these patients decreases.

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If the trial goes well, Yavapai Regional will start to expand the service to other patients. The hospital has 2,500 patients who would qualify for the monitoring program.

Current users of the platform told Yavapai Regional executives during the vendor selection process that they have seen a decrease in hospitalization and ER visits for patients managed on the platform. Most current customers of the Vivify Health product also reported no significant issues at go-live, Murayama says.

So far, Murayama is pleased with the vendor’s performance in preparing for and launching the platform. “The communication with the vendor and the ability to work together has gone well. Everything they promised they delivered,” he says.

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