How Tech Can Optimize Protocol-Driven Care For Children With Medical Complexity

The following is a guest article by Tammi Jantzen, Co-Founder & CFO at Astarte Medical Medical advances have led to improved survival for many previously life-threatening conditions of childhood, such as prematurity, congenital anomalies (like congenital heart defects), and congenital or acquired brain injury (like cerebral palsy). Technological advances such as ventilator support, feeding tubes and transplantation have successfully prolonged the lives of children with lung, gut, and other organ failure. This epidemiological shift has created a growing population of children with medical complexity (CMC)—children with significant chronic health conditions that involve multiple organ systems, substantial health service needs, major functional limitations, and high health resource utilization. CMC has created a new population that requires specialized care delivery to meet their complex healthcare needs. High Risk of Inappropriate Care Although CMC comprises <1% of all U.S. children, they account for an estimated 30% of all pediatric health care costs and 86% of hospital charges in U.S. children’s hospitals. In the past decade, hospitalizations for children with chronic conditions have increased nationally by 33%. Several factors have contributed to the increase in prevalence of CMC, including improvements in survival rates of extremely preterm infants and other critically unwell newborn infants who are now surviving into childhood and beyond, but with increased ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Astarte Medical Children with Medical Complexity Chronic Health Condition CMC Congenital Diseases Digital Tools EMR Inappropriate Care Ne Source Type: blogs