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\nSepsis is a formidable adversary lurking within the healthcare field, presents a plethora of challenges that extend beyond just the individual but also to the hospitals housing the patients. The deadly condition is triggered by the body\u2019s overwhelming response to infection. The disease comes fast and often undetected, forcing hospitals to spend lots of effort and money to attempt to remain diligent. New sepsis solutions have made it easier to predict the illness, and these new technologies are helping change the landscape and drive CMS sepsis bundle compliance. New regulations hold hospitals to higher standards and expectations when it comes to chronic killers like sepsis.
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\nDetection is a large challenge that both providers and sepsis solutions face. The high fever and difficulty breathing can be related to several different illnesses, and with the rapid progression of sepsis, it can present a tall task for the patient. Hospitals struggle with their own issues regarding disease. Early identification is crucial, but as mentioned previously, misdiagnosis can become an issue with symptoms easily related to other issues. When it is identified, the race against time is an uphill battle because the appropriate sepsis treatment requires is complex and dependent on a patient\u2019s condition. This complexity requires a multidisciplinary approach\u2014requiring collaboration between medical professionals that can often only be achieved through well engineered sepsis solutions that help automate some of the delivery of care without increased burden on physicians and nurses.
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\nSome new developments in sepsis solutions are associated with the updated regulations by the FDA and the Biden administration. The past few years have brought a lot of clarity for sepsis solutions and their development through the updated FDA regulations. On September 28th, 2022, the FDA updated its language to clarify that software used to detect or diagnose emergency or critical illnesses such as sepsis does not meet the exclusion Criteria 3 and must be regulated as an FDA Class II medical device. Roughly a year later, in August of 2023, the CDC responded to the poor sepsis performance by creating a program named the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements, designed to support all U.S. hospitals in ensuring effective teams and resources are in place to be able to identify sepsis and save more lives quickly.
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\nThe goal for these developments in regulation is simple, to find sepsis solutions that work and keep patients safe. The Biden administration created specific benchmarks for sepsis care, and beginning this fall, hospitals will be at risk of losing funding if they do not meet the set benchmarks. This holds hospitals accountable for their actions and creates a strong foundation for sepsis solutions in U.S. hospitals. The CMS Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) will penalize a 1% reduction of Medicare Payments for the bottom quartile, which is set to go into effect with the 2024 performance period.
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\nThere are multiple reasons why finding effective sepsis solutions is so vital to hospitals, besides the obvious, which is saving lives. Sepsis cost per stay is double the average cost per stay in comparison to all of the other conditions, making bundle compliance and reductions in a patient length of stay critical.
\nThe lack of effective detection algorithms at the unit level reduces our ability to drive early or timely intervention for sepsis care improvement. Early detection is vital as sepsis moves fast and being able to see it early can help a vast amount when caring for a patient. Additionally, the lack of effective sepsis solutions that also drive the care delivery should be just as big of a driver for hospitals as detection is. Delivery of care is where most hospitals fail at meeting the CMNS bundle element requirements of CMS.
\nThere are few FDA Approved solutions that accurately automate communication of potential sepsis and changes in a patient\u2019s clinical condition that require additional treatment elements. This struggle creates a plethora of other issues, such as monitoring patients beyond sepsis and driving bundles of care for other specific conditions after notifications and confirmation. Today, most sepsis solutions don not have a way to notify physicians or nurses when a bundle element timeline is about to expire and no way to escalate if notifications are not acted upon.
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\nIn closing, there is improvement in some sepsis solutions but still much to be done, especially with EHRs. 2024 will drive new and much higher expectations for sepsis delivery in hospitals. Innovative technologies, government regulations, and monitoring will help hospitals be more prepared for sepsis incidents as well as managing patient care even after they have been released. Many issues, including accurately automating communication of potential sepsis detection and delivery of care are challenges that must be dealt with through well-engineered sepsis solutions in 2024. Sepsis is a quiet growing giant and, if left unleashed becomes a serious problem; however, with the help of growing technology, regulation, and awareness, the ideal sepsis solution is no longer make believe.
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\nThe\u00a0AWARE\u2122\u00a0platform puts real-time and automated patient monitoring, clinical analytics, audio-visual, data visualization, and decision support at your fingertips, so you can rapidly detect and treat conditions, reduce errors, and save lives. Ambient Clinical Analytics AWARE\u2122 platform combines data from patient bedside devices, wearables, your EHR, and other remote patient monitoring devices. It uses deep analytics, indicative algorithms, data visualization, and audio-visual tools to help you detect and treat patient conditions with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. Ambient\u2019s AWARE\u2122 software platform, which includes sepsis DART\u2122, is an FDA Class II Cleared and Certification solution. In addition, Ambient Clinical Analytics has achieved ISO13485:2016 certification, which is an internationally recognized quality standard specific to the medical device industry. Sepsis DART\u2122 is a remote and bedside patient monitoring solution clinically vetted with Mayo Clinic. Sepsis DART\u2122 monitors and communicates regarding all aspects of sepsis treatment and sepsis bundle compliance to the exemplary practitioners at the right time, even between care locations and shifting staff.
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\nSepsis DART\u2122 (Detection and Response Tool) is the ultimate patient surveillance and alerting solution. It is designed to analyze patient data, identify potential sepsis conditions early, and offer medical staff the right information for detection of potential sepsis. Smart Notifications automate tracking of the treatment process for improved sepsis bundle compliance by following the patient across multiple hospitals and through different hospital units, services, and environments. DART\u2122 integrates with any EHR systems.
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\nFor more information on how Sepsis DART\u2122 helps you with sepsis bundle compliance, please visit our website here or contact tim.kuebelbeck@ambientclinical.com.
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