Barnes Healthcare Services and Phillips Partner to Reduce Readmissions

New research published in Journal for Clinical Sleep Medicine offers new hope to health systems struggling to meet 30-day COPD readmissions standards.

The study from Barnes Healthcare Services determined a COPD patient management program including non-invasive ventilators and an in-home care program reduced the readmission rate by 97 percentduring the subsequent 12 months.

While previous studies have shown patients (and their caregivers) prefer and thrive with at-home care, the results of this study offer a new insight into the right combination of care management and non-invasive ventilation to effectively reduce return trips to the hospital.

The study, funded and co-authored by Phillips, entitled “Retrospective Assessment of Home Ventilation to Reduce Rehospitalization in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” and authored by Steven Coughlin, PhD, Wei Liang, PhD and Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, examined 397 patients who had all been hospitalized at least twice in a single year with an acute COPD exacerbation. Each patient was prescribed a Trilogy ventilator manufactured by Philips Respironics for home use. Continued in home care consisted of medication management, oxygen therapy, patient education and ongoing respiratory therapist care in the home.

The results are impressive. The proportion of COPD patients who were readmitted on two or more occasions decreased from 100 percent (397 of 397) in the year prior to initiation of intervention to 2.2 percent (9 of 397) in the following year.

“The results of this study indicate that Philips Trilogy with an advanced mode of ventilation AVAPs-AE therapy—in combination with respiratory therapist-led care, medication reconciliation and adequate provision of oxygen therapy—assisted in stabilizing the respiratory condition of patients with COPD,” said Amy Day, RRT, Director of Ventilation Management of Barnes Healthcare Services. “Such better management of the COPD condition allows health systems to not only significantly reduce readmissions and the associated high costs, but also improve the quality of life for some of its most complex patients.”

Visit philips.com for more information.