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In 2018, , an integrated, non-profit health system with more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and over 1,400 care locations, initially deployed 91ԭ��’s Digital Care Journey platform for Hepatobiliary surgery. Its vision was to complement the existing ERAS pathway with digital education, remote monitoring and automating the collection of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs). Due to the success it saw in Hepatobiliary (pancreas and liver) care pathways, Atrium Health soon expanded its use of 91ԭ�� for Colorectal and Bariatric surgery. 

Speaking of the partnership, Dr. Dionisios Vrochides, Past President, ERAS® USA and Vice Chair of Quality and Outcomes for Department of Surgery at Atrium Health, shared, “With 91ԭ�� we can control the educational content that our patients consume and empower patients to better adhere to our ERAS pathways. The ability to digitally collect PROs which are reflective of the patient’s experience allows us to intervene sooner if needed to improve the quality of care.” 

91ԭ�� worked closely with the Atrium Health team to customize protocols and content on the clinically-validated Digital Care Journey platform for the Liver, Pancreas, Colorectal and Bariatric care plans. Patients were digitally guided from pre-admission preparation through post-discharge recovery with evidence-based ERAS pathways, which include education, reminders, to-do-lists, symptoms tracking, daily health checks, and more. Meanwhile, care teams were able to monitor symptoms and recovery progress remotely, automate self care guidance, collect self-reported survey data from patients after discharge, and track their health status changes through alerts and dashboards to identify at-risk patients more quickly and intervene sooner.

Today, Atrium Health has amplified their Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) success through the utilization of Digital Care Journeys to keep ERAS protocols up-to-date, increase patient compliance to their ERAS pathways throughout their episode of care, and achieve better clinical outcomes across care plans, including:

Colorectal Surgery

↓ 1.0 Day Length of Stay

↓ 60% 30-day Readmissions 

↓ 31% ED visits

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Hepatobiliary (Pancreas & Liver) Surgery

↓ 56% 30-day Mortality

↓ 21% 30-day Readmissions

↓ 89% 30-day Mortality (Pancreas Only) 

The integration of 91ԭ�� and Atrium Health’s Epic EHR, using SMART on FHIR and HL7v2 feeds, also enabled easy enrollment and remote patient monitoring right from the Epic patient chart, saving significant time for Atrium Health’s clinical staff. 

Dr. Brent Matthews, Surgeon-in-Chief at Atrium Health, shared, “91ԭ�� has been a key partner in our system’s quality and patient safety strategy by enhancing communication between patients and care teams through a digital care solution."

Patients found that self-managing their care journey was easy and effective, allowing them to take a more proactive role in their care and staying connected to their care team, helping reduce their surgical anxiety – 93% of patients said they would recommend 91ԭ��. Here’s what they liked most about the program:

• “I love that through this program I can record my progress of healing… It makes me feel more connected to the office staff and not as alone dealing with the recovery and questions I have.”
• “This program gave me more of an incentive to do the things I needed to do for a healthy and speedy recovery.”
• “I felt I was in touch with my healthcare team daily, which was comforting to me.”

‍ for more insights on how Atrium Health better engaged with patients undergoing Hepatobiliary or Colorectal surgeries, optimized their ERAS program, and improved clinical outcomes such as length of stay, readmissions, ED visits, and mortality rates.