nSpire Health has introduced the Iris IQ, a respiratory department analytics platform. The new framework of integrated technologies eliminates incongruences between pulmonary function test results, other respiratory diagnostic exams and/or symptomology adversely affecting clinical decisions in as many as 50% of the millions of cases where pulmonary functions testing is indicated each year.

Iris IQ unlocks the underlying power of pulmonary function testing while helping to eliminate an estimated three billion dollars in direct and indirect healthcare costs associated with poor quality testing or lack of testing and resulting misdiagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases.

Scalable in costs for single device users to complete healthcare enterprises with several devices, the new department management platform leverages nSpire Health’s patent pending PFT calibration reference standards and Iris’ unique network architecture to ensure providers consistently deliver valid results for all PFT systems’ clinical indications using any manufacturer’s PFT device.

The modular solution provides interpreting and treating physicians, respiratory therapists, and department administrators new levels of trusted insights into the complete pulmonary function testing process from pre-test staging through interpretation and result delivery including verification of instrument accuracy, precision and testing practices.

“We believe the lack of practical quality management tools has been concealing the true physiologic detection capabilities of pulmonary function testing,” said Michael Sims, President and CEO of nSpire Health. “Offering a comprehensive quality management solution compatible with any vendor’s PFT devices raises the quality of care for all patients in all pulmonary labs.”

“Until now, providers were limited to verifying component level specifications such as flow sensors or gas analyzers creating large and undetectable measurement uncertainties in each and every patient test including those used to develop regression equations for predicted normal comparisons. This ultimately gated the clinical usefulness of PFT, particularly for DLCO and Static Lung Volume testing.”

For the first time in the history of pulmonary function testing and in less than a few minutes per day end users can irrefutably validate a PFT devices output performance to a manufacturers stated specification limits (or to peer reviewed standardization criteria) for each lung function measurement output as required by the FDA and ISO and more importantly required for efficient clinical decision-making by treating physicians. Outdated simulators and biologic testing controls cost too much to use, take too long to perform, and have enormous limitations in detecting a PFT devices true accuracy and precision limits.

Beyond clinical results, Iris IQ dashboards and custom reporting capabilities provide users intuitions into clinical operations, asset management and device utilization while supporting risk management and regulatory compliance. Based on real time quality assessments for every patient exam, an integrated learning management module securely provides specific corrective action training for technicians, department managers, and physicians using any browser or Iris Decision™ Workstation.

“Iris IQ provided us with a deeper understanding of our lung function testing quality and cost drivers while offering our team focused training on corrective action procedures for more effective and efficient patient care. We saw instant results across facilities.” said Rodney Folz, MD, PhD, Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.

According to Tad Scheiblich, Director of Product marketing, “nSpire Health is currently performing PFT Quality Webinars and free Department Quality Assessments.”