BOSTON—A conference that covers the ROI of telehealth and mobile health means “it’s no longer whether these things are going to happen. We’re at a stage where we can evaluate these things,” said Jennifer Kent, director of research quality for Parks Associates, speaking at mHealth + Telehealth World 2015.

Implementing his company’s telehealth services has led organizations to reduce by 42 percent ICU mortality, said Lou Silverman, CEO of Advanced ICU Care. His company’s services also produce reductions in ICU lengths of stay of between 25 and 35 percent. Connected health involves a collaborative care model so “we’re not displacing anyone at a hospital.”

Advanced ICU Care is doing business with 65 hospitals, Silverman said, and about half have an intensivist on site for some portion of the day. However, the results and value are consistent across both environments.

“We’ve seen a lot of pressure to provide better ways to manage our caseload,” said Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, senior director of connected health at Partners HealthCare. Chronic disease and post-acute typically require a lot of time and effort with little reimbursement, he said, so “telehealth has received a big impetus.”

Partners has worked on an initiative with the California Healthcare Foundation to create a tool that lets organizations figure out their own return on investment based on how their program is organized and the outcomes.

Partners has been innovating ways to use telehealth in effective ways. But, the driver of ROI in any remote patient monitoring program is not cost but how the program is set up and the human resources around that, he said.

A lot of programs are set up like any other outpatient program, he said. “The programs with the best technology are not doing the best—it’s about how you manage people and workflow.”

Telehealth programs can have a big impact on staff satisfaction, said Silverman. “Staff satisfaction has many tentacles. We see cases where certain hospitals attract and retain clinicians because we raise the performance bar or capability bar in the ICU.”

Nurses also appreciate that the company’s physicians are available right away. The average response time in a room with a camera is within one minute. Patients and family satisfaction also goes up. “We don’t have robust data yet but early data suggest that 80 to 85 percent of patients and their families in ICUs that use a tele-ICU service feel like the quality of care in the collaborative care model is better.”

Partners has seen a reduction in utilization, said Jethwani. The service also helps the organization distinguish itself from others. “It proves we really care and provide value for the money.” It also generates patient loyalty, he said, by keeping patients more connected to practices.