Piedmont Healthcare Expands Use of Glytec’s Software for Insulin Therapy Management

Standardizing and personalizing insulin therapy management for hospitalized patients is a goal Piedmont Healthcare is poised to achieve through expanded use of Glytec’s eGlycemic Management System®, or eGMS®. The not-for-profit healthcare system currently uses eGMS® at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Piedmont Newnan Hospital and Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center. Based on a new agreement, Piedmont Healthcare will implement eGMS® at Piedmont Henry Hospital, Piedmont Fayette Hospital, Piedmont Newton Hospital and Piedmont Mountainside Hospital.

“Reducing the risks of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia is extremely important to the health and welfare of our patients,” says N. Spencer Welch, Jr., MD, an endocrinologist at Piedmont Healthcare’s largest facility, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. “Blood glucoses outside of the normal range can have a profound impact on patients’ recovery, length of stay, cost of care and readmission rates. Glytec’s software has been very effective in helping us maintain prescribed glucose targets, and as a result, incidence of severe hypoglycemia less than 40 mg/dL — which evidence shows is directly correlated to sentinel events — has been extremely low.”

Insulin is among the most prescribed medications for hospitalized patients, and there are significant risks and challenges surrounding proper insulin dosing. Glytec’s eGMS® software-as-a-service enables best practices for glycemic management by offering evidence-based insulin dosing decision support. eGMS® also provides enterprise surveillance of blood glucose values for patient risk identification, unit-level dashboards with real-time alerts that help nurses stay current with blood glucose checks, and robust analytics to facilitate continuous improvement initiatives. eGMS® resides on a cloud-hosted platform and interfaces with Piedmont Healthcare’s laboratory information system (LIS) and admission, discharge and transfer (ADT) system.

“Expanding use of eGMS® will allow Piedmont Healthcare to adopt best practices across all of its acute care facilities,” says Glytec’s Chief Medical Officer and diabetologist, Andrew S. Rhinehart, MD, FACP, FACE, CDE, BC-ADM, CDTC. “This translates to less variability, improved patient safety and better outcomes.”

Glytec’s clinical services organization will collaborate with Piedmont Healthcare to help establish governance for its glycemic management program and to optimize eGMS® around key performance indicators and targeted outcomes.

“With eGMS®, Piedmont Healthcare will have the means to demonstrate high-reliability care for patients who for reasons of diabetes or stress-induced hyperglycemia require insulin during their stay,” says Glytec’s Vice President Clinical Services, Melanie E. Mabrey, DNP, ACNP-BC, BC-ADM, CDTC, FAANP. “Use of our GlucoMetrics® solution will allow us to measure progress and identify areas where improvement may be needed.”