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Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomies by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!
In the last blog I shared
Charly Gard, the little baby who wasn’t allowed to die at home!
You can check out last week’s blog here!
In this week’s blog I want to share a presentation that I’ve given as part of being at the Melbourne health accelerator program at the Royal Melbourne Hospital
https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/
You can learn more about how our service operates and you can find out more
INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME what we are all about!
You can see the presentation in the video here or you can read the transcript here
I have a question for you. What would you do if you had a family member in intensive care for a month, for two months, for three months? What would you do? So we think that Intensive Care At Home is for those patients is the right approach. It’s an innovative alternative to an ICU bed. Our mission, really, is to provide specialised care to long term, ventilated, intensive care patients in the comfort of their own home.
What is INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME?
So what is Intensive Care At Home, and what are we all about? It was founded by myself, in 2012. We only work with qualified critical care nurses, who have a minimum of two years ICU experience. Most of them have a critical care certificate as well. We provide quality and safety, just like you do in an intensive care unit. We provide peace of mind to you, to the intensive care unit, as well as to patients and families. And most of all, for you, we relieve pressures on the health system, and on the in-demand intensive care beds in particular.
So who are we? We are experienced people with accreditation. So, myself, I’ve worked in intensive care for nearly 20 years, in the UK, in Germany, and in Australia, and I bring this model to Australia.
Intensive Home Care nursing with Critical Care trained nursing staff!
So again, our nursing staff are experienced in critical care nursing, with the appropriate training and certification, and again, that includes a minimum of two years intensive care experience, and most of our staff have a critical care certificate. We hold accreditation, ISO 9001 accreditation for intensive home care nursing services, and we are also accredited against healthcare standards.
Third party accreditation to manage quality, safety and standards!
So what are we all about? Again, quality and safety. Healthcare standards are important to us. Again, we have 3rd party accreditation for intensive home care nursing services and ISO 9001. Most of all, we partner with consumers, and that includes you, the hospital, but also our end users, which are patients and families. We engage with the appropriate medical expertise, which means our medical governance comes from intensivists, anaesthetists, paediatricians, respiratory physicians, as well as GPs. And, most importantly, to you the hospital, we work towards zero admissions back to intensive care.
Peace of mind and a proven care model!
We provide peace of mind. How do we do that? Patients and families have confidence in the specialised, 24 hour care that we deliver at home. The model has been proven in Australia, for now over three years, and it’s based upon a model that’s been working in Germany for the last 20+ years. Families of the patient return to a version of normality, by settling back into their communities, workforce, sporting clubs, etcetera. As you would know, if you have a long-term patient in intensive care, it not only impacts on the patient, it impacts on the families as well.
Palliative care for Intensive Care Patients in their own home as preferred option!
When palliative care is needed, and as you would know, as clinicians, some of our patients need palliative care, we are trusted by both the patient, their families, and by treating clinicians. Payers, such as the TAC and the Department of Health and Human Services, receive positive feedback from patients and families, about the benefits of their care being provided to them in the comfort of their own home.
Relieving pressure on the Hospital system and relieving pressure on Intensive Care beds!
Most of all, for hospitals, we are relieving the pressure on the hospital system, and on intensive care in particular. We have treated 10 patients to date, and again, we can deliver a zero readmission rate back to intensive care. It’s 50% of the cost of a hospital ICU bed. The ICU bed lock is alleviated. Medically stable, long term, ventilated patients can be separated to their own home. Weaning can be done in the comfort of a patient’s home, and we are a clinically relevant alternative to a long term stay in an intensive care unit, with the support of treating clinicians.
A cost-effective and Patient and family friendly solution for DRG’s AO6A and AO6B!
So to summarise again, for a public hospital, there is no loss of revenue. You can increase the number of ICU patients. There is a reduced cost for payers, for DRG’s A06A and A06B patients, and the average length of stay, for those DRGs, which his currently 40+ days, is going to be reduced.
Our customers!
So, who are our customers? Our customers are the TAC, the Transport and Accident Commission in Victoria, as well as the Department of Health in Victoria. How do we work? Let me tell you about one of our patients, Peter. Peter is a 76 year old, ex smoker, with a history of COPD and emphysema. Peter also is a husband, a father, and a grandfather.
Peter was admitted to ICU with pneumonia. While there, he acquired MRSA, and he got isolated into a side room in ICU for about three months. He was medically stable, but unable to be weaned off the ventilator and the tracheostomy, and Peter’s story continues that, with the support of his respiratory physician, Intensive Care at Home, family, and friends, he eventually went home.
After about three months in the hospital ICU and 12 months of Intensive Care at Home, Peter passed away in the comfort of his own home, surrounded by his family and friends, and that was the wish of Peter and his family.
The market size and the opportunity!
So you may wonder what’s the market size? We think there’s about 1,000 patients in Australia, and that’s research backed, from numbers that we have from Germany, and we use those numbers to get the market size in Australia, to estimate the market size in Australia. Patients can be looked after at home holistically and cost effectively, and most of all, we can free up your expensive and in-demand ICU beds, create access to more ICU resources. It’s patient and family friendly.
Paediatric Intensive Home Care!
So, we are all about, really, the babies. We look after paediatrics as well. We are after the intensive care doctors and intensive care nurses. We are also about the payers, like the Transport and Accident Commission (TAC), or the Department of Health, but we are also about the families and our patients, all of us, and all perspectives. And I would really like to ask you, Royal Melbourne Hospital, to use our service to empty your intensive care beds, and help create value for patients and for families.
Patrik Hutzel
If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care or Long-term acute care (also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.
Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230
USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090
UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018
Also, check out our careers section here
www.intensivecareathome.com/careers
We are an NDIS, TAC(Victoria) and DVA(Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.
We are also part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program
https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator
https://www.melbournehealthaccelerator.com/
Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.
This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!