ERAS® Cardiac Newsletter Highlights the Value of Digital Patient Engagement Platforms for Elevated Surgical Care

We are thrilled to read a piece written by our partners Cheryl Crisafi, ERAS Cardiac Clinical Coordinator, and Dr. Daniel Engelman, Medical Director of the Heart and Vascular Center at Baystate Health, in the most recent issue of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) Cardiac Newsletter, discussing the value of Digital Patient Engagement platforms (DPEPs) and how they can improve health outcomes. DPEPs help to automate the delivery of ERAS, enhance PRO collection, and monitor patient recovery.

SeamlessMD is a DPEP that conveniently provides patient access to ERAS care through reminders, to-do lists, and interactive education via smartphone, tablet or computer. Additionally, SeamlessMD facilitates more efficient Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) tracking (e.g. protocol compliance, symptoms, pain, etc). Here is an excerpt from the article that describes DPEPs as advantageous to healthcare providers:

The American Society for Enhanced Recovery recommends ERAS programs collect PROs with validated surveys to better understand patients’ recovery journey. Healthcare providers understand the importance of PROs to impact value, but often lack methods to capture them. A DPEP allows providers to collect PROs directly from patients, receive alerts and view pros on dashboards for quicker intervention and population insights. DPEP tools such as a DPEP are recommended by Cardiac ERAS guidelines as they foster patient knowledge, decrease anxiety and standardize care. 

The article also highlights Baystate Health’s successful implementation of a DPEP (which is actually SeamlessMD!) resulting in ↓0.9 days LOS, ↓72% 30-day readmissions, and ↓60% discharge to SNF. 

You can read more about Baystate Health’s success in this case study: “Implementing a Patient Engagement Platform For Cardiac Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS).”