UPMC: UPMC Implements Infectious Disease Technology
UPMC, a leading academic medical center, has implemented Infectious Disease Connect’s powerful platform for antimicrobial stewardship and infectious diseases (ID) decision support to centralize and improve ID treatment across the health system.
“ID Connect’s ILÚM Insight® Platform provides us with actionable alerts to provide real-time interventions related to antibiotic use,” said Ryan Bariola, M.D., co-director, antimicrobial stewardship outreach, UPMC. “This innovative platform also has improved the workflow of our infectious disease pharmacists and their communication with health care providers at the bedside, resulting in better and faster care for patients.”
ID Connect is a portfolio company of UPMC Enterprises, the innovation, commercialization and venture capital arm of UPMC, and also is backed by the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. The Pittsburgh-based company provides hospitals with timely, telemedicine-enabled consultations with infectious disease experts and offers its sophisticated clinical decision support platform, parts of which are now implemented at 20 of UPMC’s hospitals.
ID Connect’s software helps ID pharmacists and doctors select the most appropriate antimicrobial therapy while managing toxicity, costs and the potential for drug resistance and transmission of infection. Using machine learning, the technology also can combine a patient’s demographic factors, medication history, past hospitalizations, risk factors and other data to generate individualized treatment recommendations.
“With growing threats globally from deadly infectious diseases and increasing antibiotic resistance, it’s important for us to give our hospital partners new and better tools to face these challenges,” said Dave Zynn, president and chief executive officer of ID Connect. “These valuable solutions provide the kind of real-time, patient-centered intelligence that our health care customers are demanding.”
ID Connect serves more than 40 facilities in nine states, combining advanced technology with deep infectious disease expertise. The company estimates that it has helped its customers reduce patient transfers by up to 40%, cut antibiotic use by 30% and reduced days of treatment per 1,000 patients by 40%. In December 2020, Infectious Disease Connect’s products and services received top quality and satisfaction scores from KLAS Research based on customer feedback.