RMD ResMed Inc

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ResMed today announced that its AirView compliance management platform (previously EasyCare Online) is now securely connected to Fairview Health Services' Epic EHR system, enabling up to date delivery of sleep apnea patient data for use by Fairview's medical staff. Launched in June 2014, the integration of this data supports streamlined workflow, reduced cost, improved quality and responsiveness of therapy, and automated access to data for analytical and clinical outcome decision support.

Sleep apnea occurs when an individual stops breathing for a period of at least 10 seconds while asleep, 5 times or more per hour. The condition affects more than 3 in 10 men and nearly 1 in 5 womenⁱ, and is associated with comorbidities including heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension. The most commonly utilized treatment for sleep apnea is positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy, which keeps the airway open to prevent apnea events from occurring. Research has shown that consistent use of PAP therapy is associated with improved health outcomes.

Data generated by PAP devices, such as the ResMed S9 series and AirSense™ 10 series, enables medical professionals to remotely monitor patient therapy compliance to take appropriate action based on specific outcomes. With ResMed's AirView connection to Fairview's Epic EHR, clinicians now have access to patient PAP therapy data within their EHR system, eliminating the need to log in to multiple patient management systems to view patient outcomes.  

Key features enabled with this solution include:

• Boarding of sleep therapy patients from the EHR into the ResMed AirView patient management system
• Daily updating of PAP therapy effectiveness data from the patient's home directly into the EHR via AirView
• Sleep health therapy management workflow and tracking tools embedded in the EHR, displaying key patient PAP metrics for various time intervals, customized to meet the needs of Fairview clinicians
• Creation of a secure patient data warehouse to support advanced analytics such as the impact of sleep apnea on comorbid conditions

"The healthcare system is under significant pressure to drive down the cost of care while still delivering exceptional patient outcomes," said Raj Sodhi, Vice President, Healthcare Informatics at ResMed. "Sleep apnea represents one area where technology integration can play a key role in making that happen. The condition has clear links to serious and costly comorbidities, but it also has a well-understood compliance model that can be supported using existing technology. Our work with Fairview to integrate sleep therapy data into Epic delivers a technological framework for streamlining processes and driving efficiencies. This integration also provides a solid foundation to further our hospital-to-home strategy for both respiratory care and cardiorespiratory patients, since device data for these conditions can be presented within an EHR or other healthcare application in a similar fashion. When technology can reduce operational tasks and free healthcare professionals to spend more time with patients, as we've done here, everyone benefits."

Interoperability of healthcare systems is a growing and important trend in the industry. ResMed is a leader in delivering solutions that enable physicians, providers and patients with the tools and data that they need to improve workflow efficiencies and patient outcomes. From diagnosis to ongoing therapy, ResMed offers a solution suite that supports sleep and respiratory patients across the care continuum, including the recently announced AirSense 10 series of devices which can provide daily therapy information to healthcare applications such as EHRs via built-in cellular communication.

"Now that patients' sleep therapy data is streamlined into our existing EHR system, our physicians have a better understanding of the full picture of their patients' health, allowing them to provide better and more efficient care," said Dr. Conrad Iber, a pulmonologist, critical care physician, and sleep medicine physician at Fairview Healthcare System. "This seamless interoperability of patient data is crucial to our ongoing efforts to improve care and maximize resources."

About Fairview:
Fairview Health Services, headquartered in Minneapolis, is a nonprofit, academic health system providing exceptional health care across the entire continuum. In partnership with the University of Minnesota, Fairview's 21,000 employees and 2,300 aligned physicians embrace innovation and new thinking to deliver greater value - higher quality, better experience and lower cost.

About ResMed:
ResMed changes lives by developing, manufacturing and distributing medical equipment for treating, diagnosing, and managing sleep-disordered breathing, COPD, and other chronic diseases. We develop innovative products and solutions to improve the health and quality of life of those who suffer from these conditions, and we work to raise awareness of the potentially serious health consequences of untreated sleep-disordered breathing. For more information on ResMed, visit www.resmed.com. 

ⁱ Peppard PE, Young T, Barnet JH, et al. Increased Prevalence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2013;177(9):1006 1014

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SOURCE ResMed Inc.