Wichita ? Wichita’s Via Christi hospitals are getting ready for a new electronic monitoring system for keeping a closer watch on patients whose conditions are so severe they need intensive care.

Via Christi is investing $7 million in the system, which could be expanded to other hospitals throughout the state. The hospital system expects to be able to cut mortality rates by about 25 percent and figures it could see a return on its investment in as little as two years.

Via Christi will be the first health system in Kansas hooking up to the electronic system, which will include bedside cameras to monitor patients 24 hours a day, and computers picking up small changes in a patient’s condition will alert the on-duty nurse or doctor if quick intervention is needed.

The system will go live in April for 186 beds at Via Christi’s St. Francis and St. Joseph hospitals in Wichita, as well as Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan. Mt. Carmel Medical Center in Pittsburg will be added in December of next year, and hospital officials plan to offer other hospitals around the state the chance to contract with them for the service.

Via Christi estimates that the new service will save the lives of more than 150 people just in the first year.

“Around the country, there is tremendous impetus for hospitals to improve patient safety and patient outcomes,” said Larry Schumacher, president and chief executive of Via Christi Regional Medical Center. “Complications cost us money, cost the patient valuable time. … Hopefully with this system, we’ll be able to reduce complications and the amount of time in the hospital.”

The technology was developed in 1998 by two intensivists at Johns Hopkins University. Their company, VISICU, has installed electronic ICUs in more than 150 U.S. hospitals.

“The computer can do things the human mind can’t do,” said Frank Sample, VISICU’s chairman and chief executive officer. “It can take tons and tons of data … and know the right thing to do at the right time.”

The ICU rooms at Via Christi will have cameras and microphones linked to a remote monitoring site, where an intensivist or critical-care nurse will watch and use speakers to talk with patients or caregivers.

Hospital officials say that rather than replacing bedside service, the new system adds another layer of expertise.

Health officials say the most severely ill patients, about 10 to 15 percent of those in intensive care, account for more than 50 percent of ICU expenses due to complications and expensive hospital stay. Brent Rody, chief medical officer of medical affairs at Via Christi, said the new electronic system will help curb those costs.