SJH and Pharos Innovations team up to enhance care and reduce healthcare costs

According to Stephen F. Jencks, MD, MPH, in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, America's healthcare crisis is fueled by unnecessary and costly hospitalizations, including re-admissions -- 90% of which are unplanned and at a price-tag of $17.4 billion. To enhance care and combat readmissions, South Jersey Healthcare (SJH), a leading regional healthcare provider in southern New Jersey, has entered a partnership with Pharos Innovations that aims to reduce healthcare costs while improving quality of life for patients.

Through this partnership, SJH's heart failure (HF) patients at its Regional Medical Center and Elmer Hospital will have access to Pharos' Tel-Assurance®, a cost-effective, proactive remote patient monitoring system that has proven dramatic clinical improvement and cost savings. Tel-Assurance takes a collaborative and simple health information technology (HIT) approach to chronic care management, which simplifies care coordination. With just a cell phone, landline or Internet connection and basic measurement tools, such as a bathroom scale, Tel-Assurance has helped Medicare, Medicaid and commercial patients and their physicians achieve break-through levels of clinical and financial performance improvement.

"We selected Pharos as our partner because theirs is a truly innovative solution with a proven track record of success reducing hospital readmissions in different populations across the country," said Steven Linn, M.D., M.P.H., chief medical officer, South Jersey Healthcare. "In addition, by engaging our patients in monitoring their own health status through devices they already have and are using at home, we can improve their health while controlling our costs. It is early into the program, but we are already seeing notable decreases in avoidable hospital admissions."

"We are pleased to have been selected by SJH as their partner to help address the growing problem of unnecessary hospitalizations," said Randall E. Williams, MD, CEO of Pharos. "By using the Tel-Assurance technology platform to remotely monitor their HF patients, SJH will be able to reduce hospital admissions and improve health outcomes for their patients. The result is better, more efficient and cost-effective care."

Developed over the past 14+ years by Dr. Williams, a Johns Hopkins-trained cardiologist, and refined by a staff of diversely experienced healthcare professionals, the success of Tel-Assurance is well documented in third party studies and clinical trials.