Royal Philips and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital have announced a deal that will allow the academic health system to expanding its remote monitoring and patient management capabilities.

With the deal, affiliated practitioners from Weill Cornell Medicine centers and Columbia University Irving Medical Center will have access to Philips’ eCareCoordinator, a clinical dashboard that tracks patient-specific risk scores, facilitates care collaboration and enables two-way video communication with patients. These features will be supported by eCareCompanion, an accompanying app for patients that allows them to view ongoing health trends and complete care-related health assessments.

Why it matters

As technology continues to advance, remote monitoring and telehealth offer an opportunity to keep patients from expensive hospital stays. The organizations also wrote in their announcement of the partnership that the program will facilitate more timely consultations when needed, reduced hospital stay lengths, fewer preventable emergency department visits or readmissions.

What’s the trend

Philips’ two Telehealth apps were cleared by the FDA back in 2014, with an updated version of the care coordination platform receiving an additional clearance in 2017. Beyond these, the company has developed a number of mobile monitoring and engagement platforms for senior caretakers or clinicians treating inpatients.

On the record

"As the number of individuals living with chronic conditions continues to rise, hospitals and health systems need to innovate to best manage the growing demands on their resources," Derek Ross, business leader for population health management at Philips, said in a statement. "Transformational leaders like NewYork-Presbyterian see the value of how virtual care and advanced telehealth solutions can empower both clinicians and patients with the resources needed to deliver quality care in the home to help achieve improved outcomes and reduce costs."