ZBH’s Novel Outpatient App at Oregon Surgical Institute

Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZBH) has announced an agreement with Oregon Surgical Institute (OSI), a new ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in Beaverton, Oregon, to implement Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions Outpatient Program. Oregon Surgical Institute, a joint venture between Regent Surgical Health and West End Surgical, LLC, is designed specifically to treat complex cases and procedures focused on total joint replacement and spine disorders.

According to Zimmer Biomet, the Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions Outpatient Program with OSI will implement a suite of technologies that help institutions improve their profits and quality of care. OSI will also be implementing HealthLoop, a new app which engages patients at home both before admission and after discharge. It will help OSI to guide, educate and assess the status of each patient’s post-operative recovery.

“Zimmer Biomet’s Signature Solutions Outpatient Program offerings match what is needed for efficiencies in outpatient surgery,” said Chris Stine, Director of Bundled Payments at Regent Surgical Health. “By improving efficiencies and patient outcomes, we will continue to advance our efforts in building an outpatient center of excellence that enhances quality of care and lowers cost of care while driving procedures from hospitals to ambulatory surgery centers.”

Joe Tomaro, Ph.D., senior director of commercialization at Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions, explained to OTW why OSI was the right partner for these new smart technologies. “There were two key synergies. While Signature Solutions elements can be implemented in both hospitals and ASCs [ambulatory surgery centers], OSI is an ASC designed to specialize in more complex procedures for an ASC such as total joint replacements. OSI wanted to work with a company such as Zimmer Biomet that has a high level of expertise and experience in this area.”

“In addition, OSI consists of multiple surgeons from different practices. A big part of what the Signature Solutions implementation team did is work with the individual surgeons to gain consistency on the patient care paths to allow for a very organized approach to total joint replacement at OSI.”

“The technology that has been installed at OSI as part of Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions is HealthLoop, a patient engagement technology designed to connect the patient with the facility and surgeons during the entire pre- and post-operative processes. Below are the key features:

• Patient education: messages concerning the patients care plan and what they need to do are sent at key time periods before and after surgery, so the patient gets a “bite-sized” piece of information about their surgical preparation or recovery at the right time.
• Patient engagement: when these messages are sent, the patient needs to respond their understanding so that staff at OSI can provide any clarification or additional information as needed.
• Patient communication: OSI and the patient can communicate basic questions and even upload pictures through a secure website improving patient and facility communication.
• Patient outcomes collection: key outcomes measures are collected before and after surgery at various intervals to allow OSI to continuously improve elements of their program.

With a more complex surgery such as total joint replacements being performed as a same day surgery, this technology provides a connection between OSI and the patient during the entire process.”