AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) a leading health technology company, and Arizona-based Banner Health, today announced a multi-year partnership intended to further innovate and expand on their successful joint connected healthcare programs such as the Intensive Ambulatory Care (IAC) pilot and telehealth programs. The two organizations will collaborate, leveraging Philips’ knowledge and research in connected care and population health management (PHM) and Banner’s deep clinical and operational insights to identify and deliver integrated solutions that are intended to improve the health of Banner’s patients. At the same time, the partnership will look to create best practices that enable Banner to improve the patient experience and, ultimately, transform healthcare for patients across the Southwest.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the United States, managing 28 acute care hospitals, the Banner Health Network and Banner Medical Group, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services including family clinics, home care and hospice services, and a nursing registry. Banner Health operates in six states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.
As part of the agreement, Banner and Philips will create a governance structure that will allow both organizations to identify solution delivery projects and innovative technologies that can help improve the patient experience and outcomes. Banner and Philips are committed to driving innovation in health management and intend to look at how the healthcare network can take a more connected approach around health spaces such as cardiology by incorporating advanced imaging and interventional technologies, genomics, digital pathology, and data analytic. In addition, it is anticipated that the partnership will evaluate innovative services and business models that may enable Banner to adopt the latest in healthcare technologies, regardless of vendor, in order to deliver on their mission to make a difference in people’s lives through quality patient care.
The agreement will also give Banner access to Philips solutions such as ‘PerformanceBridge Practice,’ which is a radiology practice management solution, in order to help drive operational efficiencies in the health network’s extensive inpatient and outpatient imaging capabilities. This new, value-based radiology toolset, delivered by Philips’ Radiology Solutions business, can help improve operational performance across the Banner enterprise. The program involves a phased approach that is designed to: 1) understand and benchmark current imaging performance, 2) optimize performance to improve efficiency, clinical quality and patient experience, and 3) facilitate delivery of appropriate and sustainable imaging to improve management of at-risk patients, optimize access, and retain patients within target markets.
“We have always taken a long-term view of our business, and realized very early on that the current healthcare system was not sustainable,” said Peter Fine, President and CEO of Banner Health. “With legislation driving reform, we knew that we needed to manage population health and essentially keep people healthy and out of the system to reduce costs, while ensuring better patient outcomes.” Fine added: “If we are to make a difference in patient’s lives, we need to work collaboratively with innovative technology partners such as Philips.”
Building on a successful pilot study to demonstrate how telehealth solutions can support connected health initiatives and better manage care for patients with multiple chronic conditions, earlier today, Philips and Banner Health announced results1 showing significant decreases in both patient healthcare costs and hospitalization rates. As part of the overall telehealth program at Banner, the IAC pilot program treats patients with complex medical situations due to multiple chronic conditions. Across the nation, these types of patients generate 50 percent of overall healthcare spend2. The results of this latest cost analysis reveal that the initial benefits for Banner from Philips’ IAC program have been expanded upon, increasing the rate of improvement in reducing hospitalizations, readmissions and healthcare costs, and ultimately, improving patient outcomes overall.
“As a dedicated partner with deep industry expertise and technology solutions that are co-developed with leading healthcare networks such as Banner, we are accelerating the transformation of healthcare through proven health management programs,” said Brent Shafer, CEO of Philips North America. “Our long-standing collaboration with Banner has shown that keeping people healthy and empowering them to take a more active role in their care, allows health systems to expand access, manage costs and improve outcomes.”
Banner is the latest healthcare network to sign a long-term, strategic partnership model with Philips. In less than eighteen months, Philips has signed five long-term, strategic partnerships in North America including Westchester Medical Center Health Network (15-year term), Mackenzie Health (18-year term), Marin General Hospital (15-year term), and the Medical University of South Carolina Health (8-year term). Globally, Philips has a substantial number of long-term strategic partnerships in place, demonstrating significant productivity improvements for pioneering Philips partners, including Royal Belfast and Ashford St. Peters, and the New Karolinska Solna (NKS) hospital in Sweden.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion and employs approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About Banner Health:
Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 28 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner – University Medicine, Banner Medical Group, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services, including family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com.
1 Dahl, D., Khurana MD, H. (2015). Impact of an intensive
ambulatory program on both financial and clinical outcomes in Banner
Health, revisit the initial cohort with extended follow-up. Unpublished
internal study.
2 Department of Health and Human
Services, AHRQ, The Concentration and Persistence in the Level of Health
Expenditures over Time: Estimates for the U.S. Population, 2008-2009.
3
This number represents the patients enrolled in the IAC program who had
data available beginning one year prior to entering the IAC program, and
one year of data after entering the program.