GREENVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tenth paragraph, first sentence of release should read: Pursuant to this consensus statement, Leonard continues, “Our clients don't want a partial solution; glucose management is a complex, hospital-wide challenge." (instead of Pursuant to this consensus statement, Leonard continues, “Our clients wanted a partial solution ... )
The corrected release reads:
SENTARA HEALTHCARE USHERS IN A NEW STANDARD OF CARE IN GLUCOSE MANAGEMENT
Leading Hospital System Achieves Dramatic Reductions in Occurrences of Hyperglycemia and Hypoglycemia, Reduces Length of Stay
Sentara Healthcare, a 12-hospital, not-for-profit health system serving Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, widely recognized for clinical excellence and IT innovation, today announced that they have achieved dramatic improvements in inpatient glucose management through the utilization of the eGlycemic Management System™ (“eGMS”), developed by Glytec.
Since the rapid implementation in 2013, Sentara has realized a 79 percent improvement over the national average for hyperglycemia across eight hospitals using the Epic-based Sentara eCare® electronic medical record. Additionally, those hospitals achieved an overall hypoglycemia rate of 0.83 percent, a remarkable blended rate for IV and subcutaneous insulin therapy.
“Not only has the system resulted in excellent and sustainable improvements in patient quality and safety for Sentara, but at this stage we have data indicating it has also successfully reduced avoidable readmissions and shortened length of stay by, on average, an entire day. We will be publishing a large outcomes study looking at the impact of Glytec’s system on these metrics,” says Paul Chidester, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Nearly 40 percent of all patients admitted to acute care hospitals in the U.S. experience dysglycemia (abnormal blood glucose levels) during their stay. This can result in increased rates of infection and mortality, longer lengths of stay and a higher probability of readmission.
“We began to aggressively address the problem in 2008,” says Chidester. “A committee was formed at the system level; we developed new order sets and even our own IV insulin dosing calculator. Considerable resources were also put into continuous front line education and we established key metrics that we reported monthly. We were able to make some solid gains, but they were difficult to maintain. We determined that to reduce clinical variability, achieve standardization across our system and ultimately accomplish our goals, we needed to hardwire the process with advanced, enabling technologies. Enter Glytec, with whom we’d been working for years in one of our hospitals with an early iteration of their IV product.”
The Glytec solution has evolved from an IV insulin dosing tool to a comprehensive, integrated glycemic management and surveillance system. The eGMS™ includes the only suite of FDA-cleared predictive algorithms for IV, subcutaneous and pediatric insulin dosing. The cloud-based system seamlessly integrates with leading electronic medical records (EMR), improving workflow and nursing efficiency. Also included in the eGMS are advanced clinical and business intelligence analytics and real-time surveillance capabilities.
According to Joseph Aloi, MD, Clinical Director of the Strelitz Diabetes Center at Eastern Virginia Medical School and Chairman of Sentara’s Glycemic Control Committee, “For the solution to work in the very successful way that it has, it needed to be accessible on all computers, easily deployed, easy to use, interoperable with Epic, adaptable to our patients’ varying needs, and applicable across all care areas—for both intravenous and subcutaneous insulin management. Glytec is the only organization that has the breadth and depth of solutions to meet those objectives. A new standard of care in glycemic management has indeed arrived as evidenced by our results.”
“We are fortunate to be associated with clients like Sentara, and we are especially proud of the results they are achieving with our system,” says Bob Leonard, President and CEO of Glytec. “Our eGMS provides front line clinicians the means to both find and treat insulin-requiring patients faster and better across all areas of care, while also giving clinical leadership the ability to more effectively monitor results and best practices.”
In their Consensus Statement on Inpatient Glycemic Control, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) agree, “The complexity of inpatient glycemic management necessitates a systems approach that facilitates safe practices and reduces the risk for errors.1”
Pursuant to this consensus statement, Leonard continues, “Our clients don't want a partial solution; glucose management is a complex, hospital-wide challenge. The results that Sentara and our other clients have achieved speak for themselves. The future of glycemic management is here.”
About Glytec
Founded in 2006, Glytec is a rapidly growing clinical information technology company solely dedicated to the mission of improving insulin management and glycemic control. The eGlycemic Management System™ (eGMS™) enables hospitals and healthcare systems to significantly reduce the frequency, risks and costs of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia and offer superior care to their diabetic and surgical patients. Glytec’s solution has evolved dramatically over its eight year history; from the very first of its kind, computerized IV insulin dosing tool to the first and only comprehensive, integrated glycemic management and surveillance system. The eGMS includes the only suite of FDA- cleared, computerized, predictive dosing algorithms for IV, subcutaneous and pediatric dosing: Glucommander IV™ (FDA clearance 2006), Glucommander SubQ™ (FDA clearance 2010) and Glucommander Pediatrics™ (FDA clearance 2012). The unique breadth and depth of the Glucommander Suite™ allows hospitals to standardize its approach across all areas of the hospital.
About Sentara Healthcare
Sentara Healthcare celebrates a 125-year history of innovation, compassion and community benefit. Based in Norfolk, VA, Sentara is a diverse not-for-profit family of 12 hospitals, an array of integrated services and a team 28,000 strong on a mission to improve health every day. This mandate is pursued through a disciplined strategy to achieve Top 10% performance in key measures through shared best practices, transformation of primary care through clinical integration and strategic growth that adds value to the communities we serve in Virginia and North Carolina.
1 Moghissi, et al. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American Diabetes Association Consensus Statement on Inpatient Glycemic Control. Endocrine Practice Vol. 15 No. 4, May/June 2009.
