Swedish Health Services partners with Kindred Healthcare to deliver new TeleICU program

Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill offers additional clinical monitoring and support for patients

SEATTLE – Feb. 18, 2015 – Starting today, Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill will begin using Swedish’s TeleICU system to provide an additional layer of care and clinical monitoring for its patients.

Using two-way cameras and audio feeds, TeleICU allows remote care teams to conduct rounds, provide services and support ICU nurses. Special early-warning software collects information about blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, medication orders and X-rays to give the TeleICU teams vital information to monitor each patient's status closely, along with onsite caregivers. With the flip of a switch, the TeleICU team can communicate directly with the patient’s nurse and provide needed support. The TeleICU team typically includes an intensivist, registered nurses and support staff who monitor patients in multiple hospitals.

“The goal is early intervention for better ICU outcomes,” said Lauren Suarez, Chief Executive Officer of Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill. “We care for a critically-ill patient population. Partnering with Swedish gives us access to new, innovative resources to care for our patients and helps them progress to the next level of care.”

Swedish has been using TeleICU since 2004 and is the only health system to offer it in the Pacific Northwest. TeleICU will not replace Kindred staff; it will offer an additional layer of safety and care for its six-bed ICU unit at Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill.

“Swedish has had great success with its TeleHealth program, increasing access to specialized care across Western Washington. We are excited to work with Kindred Healthcare to further support its Continue the Care strategy focused on delivering patient-centered, coordinated care across the full continuum – from the hospital to the home,” said June Altaras, Chief Executive of Swedish Seattle.

Swedish physicians currently serve as medical directors for the ICU at Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill. Swedish transfers some patients to Kindred for ongoing complex medical care. Kindred and Swedish have a quarterly quality committee meeting to review the care of patients who are transferred and ensure practice standards are implemented.

Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill provides care for difficult to treat, chronically ill patients who require specialized care over an extended period of time. Most patients have multiple co-morbidities, multi-organ system failure, and significant loss of independence, typically following a traditional hospital stay. The hospital also has a 30-bed sub-acute unit that provides rehabilitation therapy services and helps patients transition back into the community. Kindred Hospital Seattle First Hill is part of Kindred Healthcare, which also operates another hospital and a nursing and rehabilitation center in the Seattle area.

For more information about Kindred Hospital, visit www.khseattlefirsthill.com. More information about the Swedish TeleHealth program can be found at www.swedish.org/telehealth.

About Kindred Healthcare

Kindred Healthcare, Inc., a top-150 private employer in the United States, is a FORTUNE 500 healthcare services company based in Louisville, Kentucky with annual revenues of $5 billion and approximately 62,600 employees in 47 states. At September 30, 2014, Kindred through its subsidiaries provided healthcare services in 2,376 locations, including 97 transitional care hospitals, five inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, 99 nursing centers, 22 sub-acute units, 152 Kindred at Home hospice, home health and non-medical home care locations, 102 inpatient rehabilitation units (hospital-based) and a contract rehabilitation services business, RehabCare, which served 1,899 non-affiliated facilities. Ranked as one of Fortune magazine’s Most Admired Healthcare Companies for six years in a row, Kindred’s mission is to promote healing, provide hope, preserve dignity and produce value for each patient, resident, family member, customer, employee and shareholder we serve. For more information, go to www.kindredhealthcare.com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About Swedish

Founded in 1910, Swedish is the largest non-profit health provider in the Greater Seattle area. It is comprised of five hospital campuses (First Hill, Cherry Hill, Ballard, Edmonds and Issaquah); ambulatory care centers in Redmond and Mill Creek; and Swedish Medical Group, a network of more than 100 primary-care and specialty clinics located throughout the Greater Puget Sound area. In addition to general medical and surgical care including robotic-assisted surgery, Swedish is known as a regional referral center, providing specialized treatment in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatric specialties, organ transplantation and clinical research. In 2013, Swedish provided nearly $143 million in community benefit in Western Washington. For more information, visit www.swedish.org, www.facebook.com/swedishmedicalcenter, or www.twitter.com/swedish.