AirStrip Celebrates Significant Obstetrics Mobile Patient Monitoring Milestones

Pioneering mHealth solution drives gains in patient safety, clinical efficiency and $80 million-plus in fiscal impact

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A detailed analysis of the value and impact of AirStrip OB^TM has revealed wide-ranging positive influences on patient safety, risk management, and clinical efficiency through use of the pioneering mobile patient monitoring solution.

“We know that AirStrip OB has had a substantial impact on clinical workflow and quality of care”

Deployed within such leading healthcare provider organizations as Dignity Health, Ardent Health Services and Alegent Creighton Health, AirStrip OB is licensed to thousands of clinicians across the U.S., and recently marked six years since its introduction.

AirStrip OB is the first mobile patient monitoring solution released by AirStrip Technologies, Inc., and is now in use nationwide to monitor women in labor. Hospitals actively using AirStrip OB have contributed to the following significant mHealth milestones:

• Labor and delivery (L&D) teams utilizing AirStrip OB have delivered more than 1.4 million babies since the initial deployment in 2006.
• Of those million-plus deliveries, more than 2,400 at-risk deliveries have been positively impacted.
• By focusing on the most frequent risk management issues in perinatal malpractice cases (including delay in diagnosis and treatment of fetal distress, misinterpretation of fetal heart monitoring data, and communication breakdowns among clinicians), AirStrip OB has helped mitigate nearly $63 million in malpractice exposure.
• To date, physicians have logged more than five years of physician virtual bedside availability while using AirStrip OB on their mobile devices, representing a net financial gain of $12 million.
• AirStrip OB has also reduced unproductive communications between nurses and physicians, which has increased clinician productivity time by more than 163,000 hours – a collective savings estimated at $5.4 million.

The fully sourced analysis of AirStrip OB’s impact on labor and delivery in U.S. hospitals can be found here.

Dr. Jeffrey Stearnes, a longtime AirStrip OB user at Alegent Creighton Clinic in Omaha, NE, noted that AirStrip OB has had a measurable impact on the way labor and delivery care is provided.

“The first time I saw the actual patient waveforms that I normally see at the hospital right there on my phone, I knew that it would be a game-changer, by allowing me to check on my patients anytime and anywhere,” Dr. Stearnes said. “Also, being able to look at other patient information including the vitals and nurses’ notes is invaluable, particularly when I am in the clinic or at another location. No matter what, I can still keep a close eye on my patients in labor.”

Dr. Vivien L. Pan, an AirStrip OB user at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, CA, notes that AirStrip OB can be a beneficial tool for high-risk pregnancies.

“Practicing high-risk obstetrics is important because there can be some very serious complications during pregnancy,” Dr. Pan stated. “My role is to ensure the health and well-being of both the baby and the mother. The first time I used AirStrip OB was quite an amazing experience – being able to view the fetal heart rate tracing right at that instant, and have an idea of how my patient and her baby are doing right at that moment.”

“Ten years ago, AirStrip co-founders Gene Powell, Trey Moore and Dr. Cameron Powell, an obstetrician, began developing their shared vision of using mobile technology to make births safer. From that initial innovation, AirStrip has grown into an industry-leading, enterprise-wide mHealth solution,” AirStrip CEO Alan Portela said. “The full promise of mobility as a way to transform healthcare is now coming to fruition, thanks in no small part to the trailblazing AirStrip OB solution.”

“We know that AirStrip OB has had a substantial impact on clinical workflow and quality of care,” added AirStrip President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cameron Powell. “Right now AirStrip OB is used to monitor almost a half-million births each year. Most importantly, we are proud to say that AirStrip OB is playing a role in improving outcomes for both mothers and their babies.”

AirStrip OB is part of the larger enterprise-wide, vendor-neutral and data source-agnostic AirStrip healthcare mobility solution that also includes AirStrip CARDIOLOGY^TM, AirStrip PATIENT MONITORING^TM, AirStrip Meaningful Use Tracker and mobile access to EHR systems.

About AirStrip Technologies, Inc.

Addressing the most pressing needs of a rapidly evolving global healthcare system, AirStrip develops mobile technology that drives enhanced clinician engagement, strengthened care coordination and improved clinical and financial performance. AirStrip’s platform has been tested and proven in the most rigorous care environments and it has received FDA 510(k) clearance. By unlocking, transforming and mobilizing live and historical patient information from existing monitoring devices and EHR systems to various mobile devices regardless of operating system, AirStrip helps transcend the geographic and technological barriers that delay informed clinician action. AirStrip’s enterprise-wide solution suite and its live and predictive analytics together create unprecedented opportunities to improve the health of individuals and populations. AirStrip is backed by investments from Sequoia Capital, Qualcomm, Inc., Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), and the Wellcome Trust. Visit www.airstriptech.com for more information.