How Maine hospitals are predicting your next trip to the ER

Jessica Taylor’s computer knew her patient was in trouble before she did. Even the patient, a Bangor-area man with chronic illness, was in the dark.

In all likelihood, he was about to wind up in the emergency room.

Taylor, a nurse care manager at St. Joseph Internal Medicine, spotted the warning signs with help from new technology believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

By combing through the electronic medical records of nearly all of Maine’s 1.3 million residents and applying sophisticated modeling software, the computerized tool predicts which patients are most likely to land in the ER. Not only that, but also who is headed for a hospital admission or even well on their way toward a stroke, heart attack or type 2 diabetes.

Link: 

http://bangordailynews.com/2015/02/01/health/maine-hospitals-use-new-technology-…