St. Louis, MO — November 14, 2019 — The St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University Heart Center is now sending high-risk infant cardiac patients safely home with Locus Health, an innovative remote monitoring app that sends vital health information back to their child’s care team – in real time. St. Louis Children’s Hospital is the first Missouri hospital to use this technology.
The Locus Health app, which is HIPPA-compliant, connects families and health care providers, allowing them to share vital health information with their child’s medical team in real-time. The app will provide a smoother transition to home for the Heart Center’s high-risk cardiology patients while allowing their parents to collect important data in a more streamlined manner.
The Locus platform utilizes iPads and iPhones and replaces the paper and pen that have traditionally been used to track children’s vitals like weight, heart rate, and oxygen levels. Locus has been proven to reduce the length of a pediatric patient’s hospital stay by more than 30 percent.
“Locus is unlike any other remote monitoring platform. Its turn-key program improves the home monitoring of medically-complex cardiac patients when they are at their most vulnerable and increases the engagement of their caregivers,” said Julie Stumpf, RN, MSN, Heart Center nurse coordinator for the High Risk Infant Interstage Monitoring Program at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “Our team is anxious to start using Locus and experiencing all they have to offer.”
Locus is able to leverage providers’ existing workflows, enabling care teams to efficiently manage data collected on large groups of patients, while allowing clinicians to spend more time helping their patients, instead of collecting information. Locus Health is now being used at more than twenty-five pediatric hospitals across the U.S. and Canada.
“The Locus Health platform was designed by doctors and nurses who saw the need to implement telehealth into pediatric care. The platform is proven to benefit pediatric patients and their parents and brings efficiency to hospital workflows. We are so excited to bring Locus to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, one of the top ranked pediatric hospitals in the country,” said Kirby Farrell, Locus Health CEO.
About St. Louis Children’s Hospital:
For 140 years, St. Louis Children’s Hospital has provided exceptional care for children in all 50 states and 80 countries around the world. With its academic partner, Washington University School of Medicine, Children’s is consistently ranked among the nation’s best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. A member of BJC HealthCare, St. Louis Children’s Hospital follows one simple mission – to do what’s right for kids. That mission comes to life through medical discovery, innovative therapies and compassionate care. In 2018, Children’s expanded with a state-of-the-art, 12-story medical tower. Children’s relies on generous donors to deliver specialized care for families in need, extend health care services to the community, and pursue research that promises to transform pediatric medicine.
About Locus Health:
Locus Health provides a tailored remote monitoring and engagement platform that creates a meaningful connection between patients and their clinical care teams. We partner with health systems from initial consultation to implementation and deployment, making the promise of pediatric care management at home an affordable reality.
Media Contacts:
ST. LOUIS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL:
Sheri Chorlins
LOCUS HEALTH:
Brian Byrnes
###
Photo credit: St. Louis Children’s Hospital