Sharon Regional Medical Center, a Steward Family Hospital located in Sharon, Pennsylvania announces the rollout of Twiage, an advanced cloud-based platform that uses best-in-class security technology to put telemedicine at the fingertips of emergency first responders and physicians to accelerate live-saving patient care.  Twiage is a secure, HIPPA-compliant web dashboard that seamlessly relays real-time information directly from EMS provider to Sharon Regional Medical Center.

 

Twiage offers emergency responders the ability to use a smartphone to share real-time patient data and send HIPAA-compliant photos and videos. Designed by physicians and emergency medical technicians, the app allows hospital personnel an extended method to prepare cath labs, operating rooms, stroke teams, and hospital beds well in advance of a patient’s arrival to the ER.

“This new technology offers first responders as well as hospital care teams a new level of response.  The real value for our organization is allowing us to have a complete picture of all incoming ambulances in one central location,” stated Joseph Hugar, president of Sharon Regional Medical Center.  “Twiage helps hospitals efficiently manage resources for patients coming in with health issues such as stroke, heart attack, and/or trauma and helps to save time, save money, and save lives”.

Twiage allows physicians and paramedics to start communicating from the scene of an emergency almost immediately, and gives doctors a record of what happened and what information first-responders collected.  Doctors can respond and ask questions, giving them the ability to prepare for incoming emergency cases. The app also includes an arrival countdown.

Paramedics can send photos, text messages, videos and more, all of which will be wiped from the app's history once the patient checks in at the hospital to ensure his or her privacy. Twiage allows paramedics to paint a picture of the situation, which EMS providers say is one of the hardest parts about his job.  

Twiage is free for emergency medical service providers, while hospitals pay a monthly subscription.

“We have been working together with local EMS providers to train on the new computer based system. What they are finding is that the technology permits faster and more efficient communication between them and our emergency care center. The two way communication uses real time pictures and videos, not available via older technologies like radios.” said Kurt Ellefson, Director of Emergency and Security Services at Sharon Regional Medical Center.  

 

The award-winning technology also contains GPS-tracking to help hospitals plan estimated times of arrival, ultimately shaving life-saving minutes off of treatment time to improve patient outcomes.

 

“In emergency care, speed and information save lives,” said Brenden Hayden, Vice President of EMS, Steward Health Care System. “With Twiage, Steward’s emergency department in the Mercer County area will be able to treat people even more quickly, delivering the highest standard of care to patients across the communities in which they live.”

 

A number of private ambulance companies and fire departments  in Mercer County and surrounding communities are now utilizing the Twiage technology including; Elite, LifeForce, McGonigle, and Superior ambulance services in Mercer County and Brookfield Fire Department in Trumbull county in Ohio.  Additionally, two sister Steward Health Care Hospitals in Ohio, Northside Regional Medical Center and Trumbull Regional Medical Center, have introduced this technology with a number of EMS providers and municipal fire departments in their counties.

About Sharon Regional Medical Center

Sharon Regional Medical Center is your community healthcare provider; a 220 licensed, acute care bed hospital with 19 satellite centers throughout the region. As a Joint Commission accredited hospital, Sharon Regional proudly offers specialized services including the Heart and Vascular Institute, emergency heart attack/stroke treatment, cancer care, orthopedics/sports medicine, minimally invasive surgery, bariatric surgery, emergency care, a breast care center, and a family birth center now designated as a Highmark Blue Distinction Center + for maternity care.  For more information, visit www.sharonregionalmedical.org.

 

 

About Steward Health Care

 

Steward Health Care, the largest private hospital operator in the United States, is a physician-led health care services organization committed to providing the highest quality of care in the communities where patients live. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Steward operates 39 community hospitals in the United States and the country of Malta, that regularly receive top awards for quality and safety. The company employs approximately 40,000 health care professionals. The Steward network includes more than 25 urgent care centers, 42 preferred skilled nursing facilities, substantial behavioral health services, over 7,300 beds under management, and approximately 1.5 million full risk covered lives through the company's managed care and health insurance services. The total number of paneled lives within Steward's integrated care network is projected to reach 3 million in 2018.

 

Steward's unique health care service delivery model leverages technology, innovation, and care coordination to keep patients healthier. With a culture that prioritizes agility, resourcefulness, and continuous improvement, Steward is recognized as one of the world’s leading accountable care organizations. The Steward Health Care Network includes thousands of physicians who help to provide more than 12 million patient encounters per year. Steward Medical Group, the company's employed physician group, provides more than 4 million patient encounters per year. The Steward Hospital Group operates hospitals in Malta and states across the U.S. including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.

 

 

 

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