The University of Miami Health System has launched the UHealth Televigilance program, allowing providers to remotely monitor and care for COVID-19 patients who might otherwise need to continue care in inpatient settings.
The program involves arming discharged patients with TytoCare home health devices, which they and their caregivers use to electronically transmit timely health status information. Providers monitor patients’ vital signs and can quickly address problems or triage patients who need higher levels of care.
“The UHealth Televigilance program intends to decrease length of hospital stay and prevent readmissions while freeing up hospital beds,” says Sabrina Taldone, MD, MBA, medical director of the UHealth Televigilance program and associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Miller School of Medicine. “Merging the benefits of telemedicine visits with the clinical accuracy obtained through recording patient vital signs and an extensive physical examination enhances the opportunity to closely monitor specific patients immediately after hospital discharge or ER release, thereby improving transitions of care.”
The device regularly monitors patients’ temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. If providers see data that concerns them, they can follow up with a telemedicine visit and conduct a thorough examination. The patient or caregiver uses device adapters to allow Taldone and other providers to examine the patient’s heart, lungs, skin, mouth, and ears.
The TytoCare device is integrated with Epic, UHealth’s Electronic Medical Record system. This allows UHealth to apply computer logic to patients’ clinical data, which also helps to alert providers when a value is out of normal range, according to David W. Reis, PhD, chief information officer at the University of Miami Health System.
“It brings another layer of data review and analysis for the patient, and makes it easier for our clinicians to rapidly respond when they see something that looks out of range,” Reis says.
UHealth began distributing the TytoCare devices to eligible patients on July 10. The plan is to distribute seven to 10 of the devices a week. “Thus far, these devices have been given to the COVID-19 patients at higher risk of complications, such as those with co-morbidities or those discharged on home oxygen,” Taldone says.
