November 8, 2004

University of Pennsylvania Health System Launches Life-Saving eICU^® Technology
“Open House” for Media, November 12th, to preview Penn E-lert

(Philadelphia, PA) – The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) will be the first health system in the tri-state area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware) to go live with eICU^® technology on November 15^th. The Health System’s Penn E-lert will permit remote “live” coverage of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) by practicing, critical-care physicians – intensivists – via a comprehensive telemedicine system that includes early-warning software, order entry, clinical decision support, electronic documentation, and remote physiologic monitoring. Penn E-lert will be on-line first in the ICUs in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH).

UPHS is offering an Open House for media outlets to preview Penn E-lert on November 12th from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM at 3440 Market Street, Suite 304. Please call Ed Federico for more details and to register.

"This new initiative brings UPHS to the forefront of cutting-edge technology focused on quality and patient care,” says C. William Hanson, MD, Medical Director of the Penn E-lert program. “HUP and Pennsylvania Hospitals will set the mark on how to bring ICU care into the future, while at the same time, enhancing patient care.” The Penn E-lert system is expected to cover all adult ICU beds in the health system, including those at Presbyterian Medical Center, within 24 months.

Penn E-lert features real-time data, audio, and video monitoring of ICU patients by UPHS intensivists and critical-care nurses, all from one central command center – every day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. The command center – located at 3440 Market Street, Suite 304 – is meant to supplement the on-site care provided in the ICUs by critical-care doctors and nurses, especially during off hours, such as nights and weekends. The eICU^® technology is a patented product of VISICU, Inc., located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Penn E-lert will function like an air-traffic control center, providing assistance and guidance to the attending doctors, residents and nurses in the hospital ICUs. The system will be networked via voice, video, physiological monitors and other clinical data with the physicians and nurses in the hospital ICUs. "Penn is committed to enhancing care by utilizing the latest proven technology to more effectively manage a patient's stay in the ICU. Over time, we expect Penn E-lert to help us significantly reduce mortality, complications, length of stay in the ICU, and overall healthcare costs,” adds Hanson.

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Editor’s Note: eICU^® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.

PENN Medicine is a $2.7 billion enterprise dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and high-quality patient care. PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System (created in 1993 as the nation’s first integrated academic health system).

Penn’s School of Medicine is ranked #3 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds; and ranked #4 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent ranking of top research-oriented medical schools. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.

Penn Health System is comprised of: its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, consistently rated one of the nation’s “Honor Roll” hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; Presbyterian Medical Center; a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multispecialty satellite facilities; and home health care and hospice.

This release is available online at http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov04/PennE-lert.htm