NorthBay Health Decreases Mortality Rate and Unplanned Transfers to the ICU with the Rothman Index

Patient surveillance technology enhances Cerner EMR

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NorthBay Health, a nonprofit system in Solano County, California, partnered with PeraHealth in 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The system replaced the Modified Early Warning System (MEWS) with PeraHealth’s solutions to improve clinical surveillance, yielding a 16 percent decrease in mortality rate and 30 percent decrease in unplanned transfers to the ICU, resulting in financial ROI from prevented, avoidable ICU days.

PeraHealth’s Rothman Index (RI) algorithm automatically derives one simple score from existing electronic medical record data to create a picture of any patient’s condition over time. ​Because the data reflects real-time status of multiple body systems, it captures subtle changes in patient condition – often hours or days earlier than vitals based algorithms like MEWS.

NorthBay integrated the RI with Cerner and built the solution into its clinical workflow, from shift handoff to daily safety briefings. For example, NorthBay deployed RI TREND to all nursing unit leads, the rapid response team and bedside nurses, initiating protocols when alerts about a patient surface.

“I do the code blue analyses, and 70 percent to 80 percent of the time, the RI is already trending and had identified the patients before they coded,” said Natalie Correll-Yoder, MN, CCRN, CCNS, Clinical Nurse Specialist. “We had a nice decline in the rate of unplanned transfers to the ICU after our RI implementation, and we are making a difference.”

Other outcomes attributed, in part, to RI use include improved frequency and earlier identification of at-risk patients in safety huddles and overall improvement in team communication using the RI as a “common language.” NorthBay will continue to expand the use cases with the RI into areas such as palliative care and discharge readiness.

“We are impressed with NorthBay’s ability to remain focused on their implementation during such a challenging time and are enthusiastic about their results,” said PeraHealth’s Chief Growth Officer Carolyn Minnock.

View the recent on-demand webinar featuring Correll-Yoder and NorthBay’s story: “Making a Difference for Our Patients and Care Teams with the Rothman Index – A Proven Early Indicator of Clinical Deterioration.”

About PeraHealth

PeraHealth empowers organizations to transform healthcare through the intelligent use of data. PeraHealth’s platform provides accurate, actionable insights at both the patient and population level. From community hospitals to world-class health systems, our FDA-cleared clinical decision support tools – including the gold-standard Rothman Index – are proven to help deliver better operational, clinical, and financial outcomes. For more information, visit www.perahealth.com.