Your Value Analysis Committee loves your enthusiasm about the clinical viability of Hemodynamic Ultrasound™ for your most at-risk patients in ICU.
The hTEE method sounds promising. You’ve got alignment among surgeons, attending physicians, ICU directors, nurse practitioners, and TQIP program managers.
But will an investment in Hemodynamic Ultrasound in your intensive care units measurably improve outcomes and, it must be said, the bottom line?
We answer these questions below.
Fluid overload is a known and avoidable issue in the ICU. It increases patient morbidity, mortality, and costs.
When you use Hemodynamic Ultrasound, your fluid challenge days are over, reducing fluid-overload situations. In a 2014 study, fluid overload increased ICU lengths of stay to 6.2 days versus 3.6 days without.
Probably reduce it – by a lot. You can expect to see these economic advantages:
1
Shorter time to hemodynamic stability.
2
Shorter time to wean patients off ventilation equipment; more efficient asset utilization.
3
Reduced overall use of mechanical support systems.
4
Reduced duration on vasopressors and related pharmacological support.
5
Shorter lengths of stay in the ICU setting; faster bed turnover.
6
More efficient nursing staff utilization.
7
Liability avoidance by catching signs that might otherwise be overlooked.
8
Lessened risks for readmissions (and related penalties).
9
Competitive advantage in the marketplace.
10
Ability to attract better clinicians who seek the best technology.
Our institution has experienced significant savings from use of this device.
Hemodynamic Ultrasound expedites recovery times, which improves your comparative scores and market position. Your competitors – those without Hemodynamic Ultrasound – are using assumption-based, indirect information (urine output, blood pressure, lactate, and cardiac output) to guide decisions. But these don’t tell the real story about heart filling, function, or volume responsiveness so they have to guess, essentially, how to get the patient to respond.
With Hemodynamic Ultrasound, you’ll see what to do; you’ll get a direct answer. And given your trend toward older, sicker, multiple-comorbidity patients, you need direct answers. Staying with the wrong “guess” and wrong trajectory longer can be fatal.
We encourage you to work directly with your medical billing team; they are the experts for your institution.
Since the ClariTEE® transesophageal echo probe detaches from the system handle, one Zura Handheld™ system can support multiple patients simultaneously.