St. Luke’s University Health Network Reducing ER Visits and Hospital Admissions by High Utilizers of Care

St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) has been recognized as a 2021 HIMSS Davies Award winner. SLUHN is the only health system in Pennsylvania to have been selected as a Davies Award winner a second time.

SLUHN has reduced emergency room visits and hospital admissions by high utilizers of care. Using artificial intelligence, alerts and revised clinical workflows, SLUHN created a high utilizer care plan (HUCP) group to oversee the unique population of patients who are high utilizers of care.

For the high utilizer patient population, SLUHN reduced emergency department visits from 443 in 2019 to 266 in 2020; it reduced inpatient admissions from 214 to 118 and cut imaging orders in half.

In addition, SLUHN established a network-wide pneumonia treatment guideline, enabled through an automated order set within all physicians’ clinical workflows. After implementing the protocol, SLUHN observed a 35 percent reduction in the mortality for pneumonia patients. Readmissions for pneumonia patients dropped 26 percent, resulting in a cost savings of $6,370,561 in two years.

Finally, SLUHN implemented effective virtual cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety, stress and depression through the SilverCloud Initiative. More than 2,900 SLUHN employees have utilized SilverCloud to receive virtual behavioral health therapy. Since the launch of the program, SLUHN has observed significant reductions in symptoms of depression and general anxiety disorder. This program was particularly beneficial in helping frontline workers manage stress levels during the pandemic.

St. Luke's University Health Network Case Studies:

• High Utilizer Care Plan Project: A Network Initiative to Decrease Inappropriate Healthcare Resource Utilization among High-Risk Patients Case Study
• Improved Outcomes through a Pneumonia Practice Guideline Case Study
• Making Space for Healthy Minds: An Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program Case Study

HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence

The HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence showcases the thoughtful application of health information and technology to substantially improve clinical care delivery, patient outcomes and population health around the world. The Davies Awards program promotes HIMSS’s vision and mission by recognizing and sharing use cases, model practices and lessons learned on how to improve health and wellness through the power of information and technology.

“We are delighted to be the recipient of the highly prestigious HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award for a second time,” said Donna Sabol, Senior Vice President, Chief Quality Officer of SLUHN, “This recognition validates our continued success in leveraging our EMR and technology to greatly improve patient care and clinical outcomes throughout our healthcare network.”

“St. Luke’s has consistently been able to leverage our EHR, reporting, and predictive analytics to help our clinicians achieve the best outcomes for our patients,” said Dr. Jorge Scheirer, SLUHN Chief Medical Informatics Officer, “A strong relationship between IT and clinical operations is critical to our success.”