A space-age capsule offering precise body fat measurements might seem like the domain of bodybuilders and fitness fanatics, but Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is using the technology for patients who are anything but image obsessed: infants.

The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit is using these devices to get a more comprehensive view of whether premature and low birth-weight babies are gaining fat or muscle. The babies’ nutrition can be adjusted accordingly.

These “Pea Pod” units resemble small MRI machines and use air displacement to capture more exact body fat figures. The new tech is part of a three-year-long effort to reduce patient stays in the ward, which is not only good for the babies but the hospital’s bottom line as well.

“Today we are paid for how many times we do something, how complicated procedures are, and that’s led to great advances in medicine but at great expense,” explained Dr. Charles Simmons, chair of the department of pediatrics and director of Cedar’s neonatology division. “We’re starting to shift to an era where we need to manage the health of a population in the most efficient way possible, to have the same safety and quality, but to make sure we’re expending just those dollars needed to reach that point.”

Simmons said technological and other advances had allowed Cedars to decrease average patient stays in its NICU by 20 percent over the past three years.

“It’s very exciting,” he said of the various efforts. “We see many of these as being able to bundle together to try and allow the babies to go home as early and healthy as possible.”

– Marni Usheroff