NYC Health + Hospitals teams up with Firstline to tackle antibiotic resistance with innovative app

NYC Health + Hospitals has announced a strategic partnership with Firstline, a health technology company dedicated to enhancing the appropriate use of antibiotics among healthcare providers.

This collaboration introduces an innovative app designed to align antibiotic prescriptions with established hospital guidelines, thereby reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global concern, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labeling it as one of the world’s greatest threats to public health.

Patients who develop infections resistant to available antibiotics face dire consequences, as treatment options may become severely limited or nonexistent.

This partnership seeks to mitigate those risks by providing healthcare professionals with immediate access to critical prescribing guidelines and antibiotic resistance data.

“Firstline is user-friendly, easy to access on any mobile device, and will make it effortless for our healthcare workers to access guidelines wherever they are providing patient care,” said Dr. Gabriel Cohen, Chief Medical Information Officer of Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals. This app will be implemented at five NYC Health + Hospitals sites: Bellevue, Elmhurst, Lincoln, Queens, and South Brooklyn Health.

The Firstline app integrates hospital-approved guidelines and infection control policies, enabling healthcare providers to make informed decisions on infection treatment.

The New York State and City Health Departments recently issued a health advisory urging providers to refrain from prescribing ciprofloxacin for invasive meningococcal disease post-exposure prophylaxis due to rising antimicrobial resistance, highlighting the urgent need for responsible antibiotic use.

“Firstline should be a go-to resource for all prescribers of antibiotics at NYC Health + Hospitals,” stated Dr. Justin Chan, System Chief Hospital Epidemiologist. “The app offers our providers our hospital-approved guidelines and best practices that have historically been hard to access in one location. It will empower our physicians to make the best possible treatment decisions.”

Dr. Maurice Policar, System Chief of Infectious Diseases, emphasized the significance of this initiative, stating, “The overuse and misuse of antibiotics is one of the biggest challenges we must combat to safeguard the public health of a city as large and diverse as New York. We are optimistic the Firstline app will be a gamechanger. It is easy to use and will take the guesswork out of which medication to prescribe, leading to much better outcomes for our patients.”