Summary of the Health Economy Study

Background

Conventional ECG telemetry monitoring systems suffer from a number of equipment-related problems, ranging from those associated with the large amounts of wiring, the need to sterilize equipment, and infections resulting from contaminated equipment to false alarms. Innovations that minimize the amount of equipment required can thus help avoid such problems.

The CardioSenseSystem

Novosense has developed the CardioSenseSystem®, which is a new ECG monitoring system that eliminates ECG wiring and equipment entirely from the patient’s bedside. The technology is based on the CardioPatch, which is a single-use unit that adheres to the patient’s skin, and replaces the conventional module, lead and electrode.

The outcome of the Health Economy study

The study at the Skåne University Hospital, including four inpatient wards, showed that the CardioSenseSystem outperforms existing ECG systems.

The key findings

• In the four inpatient wards included in the study, the acquisition cost was reduced by between 65% and 85% compared to the current system. The CardioSenseSystem thus replaces significant capital expenditure every seventh year with operational expenses matching the reimbursement revenue streams received by the healthcare provider/operator, thus improving cash flow.
• The CardioSenseSystem eliminates equipment cleaning costs and almost eliminates storage costs.
• The staff costs of the current system were consistently reduced by between 76% and 79% across all four wards. Switching to the CardioSenseSystem system across all four wards would cumulatively have saved an estimated 2 474 nursing hours per year.
• Taking in account the fact that removing cables and equipment from the bedside can reduce infections, accidents, and confusion, the benefits are likely even higher than those detected in the study.