Peter Antevy, MD: Redesigning the emergency medical response

Eighty percent of Medicare dollars are the used by the sickest 20% of patients. Frequent emergency department visits along with re-admissions cost the government and hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Health care, technology, and the changing face of medicine have led many to solve this difficult problem. We have re-designed the emergency response to the chronically ill patient by developing a technology platform that alerts a data center even before the patient is clinically at risk. Patients are also given instant access to assistance with a tablet that connects them right into dispatch. The paramedic dispatcher triages the patient, connects into the patient’s physician and then has the option to send a community paramedic to the patients residence. A full evaluation is completed including a survey of the home, vital signs, EKG and blood work. The physician is then included via HIPAA secure video teleconference and can order complex interventions to be performed on site. To date we have responded to 160 acutely ill patients and only 20 have required transport. Realized savings have been in excess of $600,000 and we are now ready to scale.

Medicine X is a catalyst for new ideas about the future of medicine and health care. The initiative explores how emerging technologies will advance the practice of medicine, improve health, and empower patients to be active participants in their own care. The “X” is meant to encourage thinking beyond numbers and trends—it represents the infinite possibilities for current and future information technologies to improve health. Under the direction of Dr. Larry Chu, Associate Professor of Anesthesia, Medicine X is a project of the Stanford AIM Lab.