Devicemaker Royal Philips has signed a strategic partnership with its largest health system yet.
Amsterdam-based Philips announced Monday that it had signed a 15-year agreement with Phoenix-based Banner Health that will use technology to improve the system's efforts in telehealth, population-health management and other areas. It's the fifth partnership Philips has signed in North America in roughly a year and a half, and one of dozens the company has signed globally in the past decade.
Philips has signed similar agreements with hospitals across the country as the company seeks to embed itself within providers and solidify its place in the future of value-based care. Its agreement with Banner follows up on collaboration between the two organizations on telehealth.
Banner operates 28 hospitals and various clinics in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. The company's most recent deal was with MUSC Health in Charleston, S.C., to install and manage patient-monitoring equipment for inpatient services.
Most of the solutions offered by Philips center around the company's own products, but the company also turns to products and services from other vendors. This deal aims to look at what technologies could help Banner take a more connected approach to health management, by incorporating advanced imaging and interventional technologies, genomics, digital pathology and data analytics. It also gives Banner access to Philips' advisory services, including a radiology analytics platform that helps providers benchmark efficiency and quality.
Banner previously piloted Philip's Intensive Ambulatory Care program, which uses telehealth to support treatment of patients who are having complex medical issues due to multiple chronic conditions. By identifying populations that could benefit from coaching and linking care teams from different disciplines, the program aims to help hospitals better treat these patients, who carry significant healthcare costs.
The companies say the Intensive Ambulatory Care program reduced overall costs of care by 35%, lowered hospitalization by 50%, cut average length of stay by 50% and reduced 30-day readmissions by 75%.
Devicemakers are increasingly looking to advisory services as a way to increase the value of their offerings without compromising on device prices. Philips, Medtronic, Stryker and Zimmer Biomet are among a number of companies that offer consulting services that aim to teach providers how to use their devices more efficiently.
