Sepsis is one of the deadliest conditions a hospital patient can encounter. St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network, based in Bethlehem, Pa., is one of the nation\u2019s leaders in helping to prevent it.<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s uses a dynamic mix of both human and artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring to achieve some of the best sepsis compliance and sepsis survival rates in the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe utilize the Epic Sepsis Model \u2013 predictive AI \u2013 in the background, along with programming engineered by St. Luke\u2019s, to monitor every patient every moment of the day for rising risk,\u201d said Charles Sonday, St. Luke\u2019s Associate Chief Medical Information Officer. \u201cIf a patient rises above a certain threshold … an alert goes to both the provider and the nurse to examine that patient and begin treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
This unique approach to preventing and treating sepsis is one of the factors that contributed to the Network being ranked #1 nationwide in quality, safety and patient experience by\u00a0the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n
Across the Network, every patient in a medical-surgical unit is monitored around the clock. The vital signs, lab results, nursing\u00a0notes\u00a0and more are transmitted to a virtual response center staffed by registered nurses. When a patient starts meeting certain metric parameters, the care team knows long before it becomes an ICU emergency.<\/p>\n
With survival rates climbing and unexpected ICU transfers declining, St. Luke’s is showing what real world responsible medical AI looks like: always on and keeping patients safer without replacing the humans who care for them.<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s has engineered the use of these tools \u2013 combined with hands-on human response \u2013 to achieve top 10% results nationally in sepsis performance. St. Luke\u2019s fiscal year sepsis\u00a0bundle\u00a0compliant rate as determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was just under 88% compared to the national average of 64% and the Pennsylvania average of 61%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sepsis bundle is a list of elements that focus on very timely metrics,\u201d explained Diana Tarone, St. Luke\u2019s Senior Network Director of Quality. \u201cWe are checking to see if the patient is hypotensive and needs a vasopressor, what antibiotics are administered. It is a constant and consistent watching, monitoring and reassessing of the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the virtual response center \u2013 located off-site, simultaneously serving all St. Luke\u2019s hospital campuses \u2013 an array of computer monitors lists the patients and their vital signs, with the most at-risk rising to the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very complex list of factors and there has to be a lot of communication between the physician team, the advanced practitioner team and the nursing team,\u201d said Dr. Jennifer Axelband, St. Luke\u2019s As<\/strong>sociate Medical Director of Critical Care Education. \u201cWe use AI monitoring in the background to help us stay compliant with these bundles because statistics show that if you stay compliant with the metrics established by CMS, it decreases patient mortality by 30%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1872, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is\u00a0the Lehigh\u00a0Valley\u2019s biggest employer.<\/p>\n The Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.<\/p>\n Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established\u00a0the Lehigh\u00a0Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows.<\/p>\n In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ranked St. Luke\u2019s #1 \u2013 ahead of Houston Methodist and Mayo Clinic, two of the nation\u2019s most prestigious institutions \u2013 as the nation\u2019s top health system for quality, safety and patient experience. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke\u2019s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.<\/p>\n St. Luke\u2019s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World\u2019s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality,\u00a0efficiency\u00a0and patient satisfaction. In 2025, the Network earned straight\u00a0A\u2019s\u00a0from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.<\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: Sepsis is one of the deadliest conditions a hospital patient can encounter. St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network, based in Bethlehem, Pa., is one of the nation\u2019s leaders in helping to … Continue reading St. Luke\u2019s Leads the Way in Sepsis Prevention<\/span>
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"