Zimmer Biomet further embraced value-based care yesterday when the company launched a suite of clinical services and technologies to assist hospitals and medical practices in making the transition.
Signature Solutions is the company's response to the call for high quality, low cost medicine. The suite is designed to help surgeons maintain patient outcomes while maximize procedural and cost efficiency for the entire episode of care. The company is targeting especially orthopedic providers who are part of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program for bundled payments.
Here are five things to know about Signature Solutions:
1. Zimmer Biomet began Signature Solutions in the 1990s with an expert consulting service in response to a shift toward value-based healthcare. The company advised more than 450 hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide since then to improve the value of their musculoskeletal programs.
2. Signature Solutions integrates into the established Zimmer Biomet consulting platform with technologies and services that add to the value equation. The core components include:
• Interactive patient engagement tools for patient education, communication and adherence to protocols
• Data mining and analysis platform to collect patient-reported outcomes
• Consulting services
• Digital health software solutions
• Personalized, patient-specific medical technologies and instruments to improve quality and outcomes as well as streamline workflow
3. Zimmer Biomet will offer the suite to musculoskeletal healthcare servicelines at select academic facilities in the United States. There will be a broader launch next year.
4. There are a few hospitals that have already been effectively using the technology. "Over the past year, we engaged Signature Solutions' expert consulting services to guide our clinical and operational teams to improve the value of our orthopedic program by creating standards for patient optimization and surgical protocol," said Todd Dietrick, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif.
5. The program could be particularly useful as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 goes into full effect. Similar policies basing reimbursement on patient and health economic outcomes are present in Europe and Canada as well.