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Reduced mortality, costs and complications through smart data analysis at Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven

Heart specialists at the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven have succeeded in smartly analysing data from care treatments. This further improves outcomes of care that are important to patients and reduces costs. For example, the risk of dying during a heart valve replacement drops from 4.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent. And healthcare costs in the first weeks after bypass surgery were almost halved. This is according to a press release from Catharina Hospital.

 

 

Spectacular improvement

By analysing data intelligently, it was possible to implement initiatives at various treatments that further improved the quality of care. Catheter-assisted aortic valve replacement at Catharina Hospital's heart centre saw a much greater reduction in mortality around the procedure than at other heart centres in the Netherlands. ''By routinely analysing data, we are able to detect trends,'' Gijs van Steenbergen explained. He is a researcher at TU Eindhoven. "If you zoom in on those trends, you can improve care and reduce costs by making an adjustment."

Another study found that even better monitoring of stopping anticoagulation medication before bypass surgery reduces the chance of reoperation by 3.5 times and the chance of blood transfusion by 2.5 times. "In a short time, we have made spectacular improvements by analysing data," Van Steenbergen said.

 

E-health

In both bypass surgery and ICD implantations - a device used for cardiac arrhythmias - e-health applications have been shown to reduce healthcare costs. In the patient group that was guided with an e-health application, the number of visits to the emergency room and GP in the first weeks after bypass surgery decreased by 44 per cent. That e-health application was developed together with the Heart Foundation. Among patients with an ICD whose box is read remotely, 14 per cent less used care.

Read Van Steenbergen's full thesis here.