When a hospital patient develops a single pressure injury, it costs the facility about $44,000 - and costs the patient pain, days or weeks of healing time, and an added risk of infection. A new analytics tool the University of Mississippi Medical Center will begin using in October, however, will help prevent ulcers from forming by predicting when and how they would likely occur. The predictive analytics program, developed in partnership with a third-party company, crunches data every night, for every person who's a patient at the state's only academic medical center. The program analyzes a menu of clinical and demographic information specific to each patient - more than 4,000 variables, including the patient's zip code. “This is the most exciting thing I've done here in 20 years,” said Keith Hodges, a registered nurse and the Medical Center's clinical intelligence manager. “This is the future of health care. We're applying these analytics to all patients, no matter their perceived risk.” |