Premier healthcare alliance and Deltex Medical Collaborate to Improve Patient-Centered Surgical Care

Partnership driven by preliminary study with Duke University Medical Center suggesting reductions in harm, readmissions, length of stay and costs for colorectal surgery patients

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Premier healthcare alliance and Deltex Medical have initiated a new research partnership to improve care for colorectal surgery patients.

“These programs allow life sciences companies and care providers to implement evidence-based medicine to improve care delivery”

The Performance Improvement Research Collaborative (PIRC) will further evaluate the impact of enhanced recovery clinical practices to improve outcomes and lower costs. Enhanced recovery is a multidisciplinary treatment pathway that improves surgical care by coordinating evidence-based practices across specialties, providers and sites of service. A key component of enhanced recovery is optimizing fluid levels in patients undergoing surgery to maintain adequate blood flow to the organs.

A recent preliminary study within Premier’s QUEST^® Comparative Effectiveness & Innovation Program (QCEIP) suggests that using an enhanced recovery protocol improved care for patients undergoing colorectal surgery at Duke University Medical Center (DUMC). Deltex Medical’s CardioQ™ Doppler guided fluid management monitor was used in DUMC’s enhanced recovery program.

According to study results, which are currently under peer review, patients treated with an enhanced recovery protocol experienced reductions in length of stay, readmissions, costs, and complications such as urinary tract infections and surgical site infections. A key component of the protocol is Deltex Medical’s Doppler monitor for evidence-based fluid optimization. Peer reviewed results from the study are expected to be published later in 2013.

“Like any major surgical procedure, there are always risks involved for bowel resection patients such as infection or prolonged length of stay due to complications. Following an enhanced recovery protocol is essential to keeping patients safe, as comfortable as possible during and after surgery, and speeding up their recovery.” said Tong-Joo Gan, MD, vice chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at DUMC.

The enhanced recovery QCEIP study was designed and conducted in conjunction with DUMC to evaluate Doppler guided fluid management and clinical interventions in a hospital setting. QCEIP generates objective results to inform providers and patients about safe, cost-effective treatments for certain clinical conditions. It also helps the healthcare community better understand patient outcomes associated with the use of certain technologies.

Based on the results, Deltex Medical and Premier will initiate the next phase of the program, a PIRC focusing further on the care delivered to colorectal surgery patients. They will work together with three to five pilot alliance member hospitals to implement enhanced recovery protocols and ultimately determine the optimal care for the appropriate patient at the right time. The overall purpose of these collaboratives is to help providers better understand, monitor and deliver high-quality, patient-centered care.

“We look forward to seeing the even greater results that can be delivered by taking the key elements of this retrospective analysis and applying that research prospectively in a real-world environment to significantly improve patient care,” said Ewan Phillips, CEO at Deltex Medical.

The PIRC and QCEIP programs leverage Premier Research Services' expertise and information within PremierConnect™, a technology platform that benchmarks patient-level quality and financial data with national standards. The platform accesses the nation’s largest outcomes database with information on 1 in 4 U.S. hospital discharges, 2.5 million real-time clinical transactions daily and nearly $43 billion in annual purchasing data. Premier Research Services and Premier data have been featured in more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.

“These programs allow life sciences companies and care providers to implement evidence-based medicine to improve care delivery,” said Wes Champion, senior vice president of Premier Performance Partners. “It’s this type of real-world collaboration that is needed to uncover innovative, more refined ways to safely provide care and produce better outcomes.”

About Deltex Medical

Deltex Medical is a British medical technology company which has pioneered innovative, evidence-based approaches to individualized intra-operative fluid management. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of Esophageal Doppler Monitoring (EDM) equipment which, for the first time, allows doctors to identify precisely and then manage small changes in circulating blood volume. The company's individualized Doppler-guided fluid management technology, CardioQ-EDM™, has been proven to reduce complications, shorten hospital length of stay, and lower costs for patients undergoing surgery and is one of the fastest growing new medical technologies in Europe. www.deltexmedical.com

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals and 90,000 other sites using the power of collaboration and technology to lead the transformation to coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier operates a leading healthcare purchasing network with more than $4 billion in annual savings. Premier also maintains the nation's largest clinical, financial and outcomes database with information on 1 in 4 patient discharges. A world leader in delivering measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.