Smith+Nephew, the global medical technology business, has announced the addition of ARIA SiteSelect and ARIA Optimized Recovery Pathways to its digital episode of care management platform, ARIA. These digital tools will help clinicians more consistently determine the appropriate surgical site of care for patients and standardize total joint care pathways with the objective of improving post-operative outcomes.
ARIA SiteSelect is a clinical decision support tool created to enable a clinician to determine whether a patient is a suitable candidate for outpatient surgery in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting. ARIA SiteSelect is based on an algorithm that uses multiple factors related to the patient’s medical history and lifestyle including their demographic, social, functional and medical status in order to support the clinician in determining the appropriate surgical site of care.
ARIA Optimized Recovery Pathways are a series of outpatient total joint care pathways selected and optimized by the clinician in ARIA to support the standardization of care plans for outpatient total joint procedures. The evidence-based 90-day episode of care pathways are designed to support the potential reduction in complications associated with post-operative pain control while also helping to restore the patient’s functional mobility sooner after surgery, which can support improved outcomes.
The assets were designed for clinicians and are intended to be used by clinical practices and surgical sites of care to support their treatment protocols.
“As more healthcare practitioners and patients realize the potential benefits of outpatient surgery in the ASC setting, it’s more important now than ever to offer clinicians a tool to indicate and help guide patients to the site of care where they stand to experience the best outcome,” said Dr. Ritesh Shah, orthopaedic surgeon at Illinois Bone and Joint Institute and Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
“Delayed ambulation after surgery is a critical factor that can detrimentally affect recovery for a total joint patient,” said Dr. Nishant Shah, Partner with Midwest Anesthesia Partners. “The goal of the clinical pathways is to streamline the process, make it more consistent from patient to patient, and create efficiencies that enable patients to get back to the lives they enjoy sooner.”
“ARIA SiteSelect and ARIA Optimized Recovery Pathways are additional solutions in our Positive Connections digital toolkit that empower surgeons to make informed, efficient decisions within their clinical practice and ASC,” said Laura Rector, Vice President for Ambulatory Surgery Centers at Smith+Nephew. “We support long-term solutions for ASCs and clinicians in an effort to help them improve practice management.”
ARIA, Smith+Nephew’s digital care management platform, was launched in August 2020. It promotes engagement between patients and providers to support the overall patient experience before and after surgery.