/ en Mon, 28 Apr 2025 07:10:48 -0500 Thu, 21 Nov 24 10:00:00 -0600 /center/next-generation-leaders-fellowship/fellowship-action Thu, 21 Nov 2024 10:00:00 -0600 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /virtual-nursing-models-care <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><em>COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the face of the health care workforce. The pandemic has strained hospitals, affecting caregivers’ well-being and resulting in many leaving their hospital jobs. The AHA has been collecting resources to assist organizations in their efforts to plan for the future post-COVID-19 workforce.</em></p><p><a href="/aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-02-28-5-imperatives-scale-virtual-nursing-program">As discussed by Sylvain Trepanier, R.N., chief nursing officer at Providence</a>, “Virtual nursing was introduced a couple of decades ago, but it’s getting a fresh look thanks in large part to its successful use during the height of the pandemic. Today, leaders at many health systems are piloting technologies and expanding programs as they work to systematically scale this model.”</p><p>Nursing leaders have identified five essential characteristics for successful virtual nursing programs:<br>1. Be inclusive from the start.<br>2. Allow time for relationship building.<br>3. Anticipate technological difficulties.<br>4. Don’t be afraid to change workflows.<br>5. Make sure buildings have adequate wireless bandwidth.</p><p>The AHA has collected from our member hospitals and health systems examples of successful virtual nursing programs. Below is a brief summary of those case examples.</p><h2>FEATURED CASE STUDIES</h2><hr><h4><a href="https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2022/nov/health-innovation-journal/mission-requires-change.html" title="BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE WORKFORCE WITH HOUSTON METHODIST"><span>BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE WORKFORCE WITH HOUSTON METHODIST</span></a></h4><h4><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37261414/" title="IMPLEMENTING A VIRTUAL TEAM MODEL IN THE ACUTE CARE SETTING">IMPLEMENTING A VIRTUAL TEAM MODEL IN THE ACUTE CARE SETTING</a></h4><h4><a href="https://blog.providence.org/national-news/covenant-medical-center-a-providence-affiliate-revolutionizes-the-way-nurses-deliver-care" title="COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER REVOLUTIONIZES THE WAY NURSES DELIVER CARE">COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER REVOLUTIONIZES THE WAY NURSES DELIVER CARE</a></h4><h4><a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/innovation/bon-secours-mercy-health-pilots-virtual-nursing-at-3-sites-looks-to-expand-to-48-hospitals.html" title="BON SECOURS MERCY HEALTH PILOTS VIRTUAL NURSING">BON SECOURS MERCY HEALTH PILOTS VIRTUAL NURSING</a></h4><h4><a href="https://www.chisaintjosephhealth.org/hospital-news/saint-joseph-hospital-introduces-virtually-integrated-care-through-use-of-pioneering-technology" title="SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL INTRODUCES VIRTUALLY INTEGRATED CARE THROUGH USE OF PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY">SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL INTRODUCES VIRTUALLY INTEGRATED CARE THROUGH USE OF PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY</a></h4><h4><a href="https://www.aonl.org/news/voice/nov-2022/abstract-creating-partnerships-for-care" title="CREATING PARTNERSHIPS FOR CARE: OCHSNER’S VIRTUAL NURSE PROGRAM">CREATING PARTNERSHIPS FOR CARE: OCHSNER’S VIRTUAL NURSE PROGRAM</a></h4><h4><a href="https://baycare.org/newsroom/2023/july/virtual-nurse-pilot-program-pleases-patients-and-nurses" title="BAYCARE’S VIRTUAL NURSE PILOT PROGRAM PLEASES PATIENTS AND NURSES">BAYCARE’S VIRTUAL NURSE PILOT PROGRAM PLEASES PATIENTS AND NURSES</a></h4><h4><a href="https://cdn.atriumhealth.org/-/media/chs/files/whitepapers/transforming-health-care-delivery-through-virtual-care-01-2024-compressed.pdf" title="TRANSFORMING HEALTH CARE DELIVERY THROUGH VIRTUAL CARE">TRANSFORMING HEALTH CARE DELIVERY THROUGH VIRTUAL CARE</a></h4><h4><a href="https://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/abstract/2023/06000/initiating_virtual_nursing_in_general_inpatient.22.aspx" title="MAYO CLINIC’S ADVANCED CARE AT HOME">MAYO CLINIC’S ADVANCED CARE AT HOME</a></h4><p> </p><p> </p>h2 { color: #9d2235; } h3 { color: #003087; } </div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/08/pa-workforce-solutions-virtual-nursing.pdf" target="_blank" title="Click here to download the Workforce Solutions: Virtual Nursing: Models of Care PDF."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/workforce-solutions-virtual-nursing.png" data-entity-uuid="4406564a-d6c5-46c7-853b-56a507fe7a11" data-entity-type="file" alt="Virtual Nursing: Models of Care" width="726" height="940"></a></p></div></div></div> Tue, 06 Aug 2024 11:21:35 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /concord/case-studies/hicuity-health <div></div><div> /* Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar */ .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar { position: relative; display: block; overflow: hidden; max-width: 1170px; margin: 0px auto 25px auto; } .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { position: absolute; bottom: 40px; color: #003087; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, .8); width: 100%; padding: 20px 40px; font-size: 3em; box-shadow: 0 3px 8px -5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .6); } @media (max-width:991px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 2.5em; } } @media (max-width:767px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { font-size: 2em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; padding: 10px 20px; } } @media (max-width:530px) { .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { position: relative; background-color: #63666A22; } } /* Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar // */ .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { color: #fff; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, .0); box-shadow: none; } @media (max-width:530px){ .Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar h1 { background-color:#000; } } <header class="Banner_Title_Overlay_Bar"><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-06/Concord_Investing_banner1_1170x250.jpg" alt="Banner Image" width="1168" height="250"><div><h1>Delivering A “Best In Class” Virtual Care Center In Less Than 6 Months</h1></div></header></div><div class="raw-html-embed"> /* CntMenuSub */ .CntMenuSub{ margin:20px 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; color: #afb1b1; letter-spacing: 1.5px; font-weight: 400; 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var path = url.split('/').slice(-3, 2).join('/'); var pathreplace = path.replace(/-/g, " "); document.getElementById("CntMenuSubHome").innerHTML =(pathreplace); var url = window.location.pathname; var path = url.split('/').slice(-2, 3).join('/'); var pathreplace2 = path.replace(/-/g, " "); document.getElementById("CntMenuSubParent").innerHTML =(pathreplace2); var url = window.location.pathname; var path = url.split('/').slice(1, 2).join('/'); var pathreplace2 = path.replace(/-/g, " "); document.getElementById("CntMenuSubParentOnly").innerHTML =(pathreplace2); var y = document.getElementsByTagName("h1"); document.getElementById("CntMenuSubChild").innerHTML = y[0].innerHTML; </div><div class="row sp_Resource1"> .sp_Resource1 { /*padding: 25px 0 0px 0;*/ } .sp_Resource1 h2 { margin-top: 0px; } .sp_Resource1 h3 { margin: 10px 0 0 0; color: #555; font-size: .7em; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 3px; } .sp_Resource1 h4 { color: #002855; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 30px; margin: 10px 0 15px 0 } .sp_Resource1 p, .sp_Resource1 ul li { font-size: 16px; } .sp_Resource1_holder { background-color: ; padding: 0; overflow: auto } .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder img { margin: auto; display: block; box-shadow: 10px 10px 14px -6px rgba(0,0,0,0.75); -webkit-box-shadow: 10px 10px 14px -6px rgba(0,0,0,0.75); -moz-box-shadow: 10px 10px 14px -6px rgba(0,0,0,0.75); } @media (max-width:767px) { .sp_Resource1 .sp_Resource1_holder img { width: 100%; max-width: 150px; } } .sp_Resource1 .btn { margin-top: 20px; } .sp_Resource1_holder h2 span { color: #d50032; display: block; position: relative; font-size: .8em; } <div class="col-md-10 col-md-offset-1 sp_Resource1_holder"><div class="text-align-center col-sm-4 col-md-3"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/07/Hicuity-Health-casestudy-shared-services_2024.pdf" target="_blank" title="Health Care System Virtual Care Optimized with Shared Services Solution"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-07/Hicuity-Health-casestudy-virtual-care-247x320.jpg" alt="Cover image" width="247" height="320"></a> </div><div class="col-sm-8 col-md-9"> Scan </h3> --><h2><span>Case Study</span> <a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/07/Hicuity-Health-casestudy-shared-services_2024.pdf" target="_blank" title="Health Care System Virtual Care Optimized with Shared Services Solution">Health Care System Virtual Care Optimized with Shared Services Solution</a></h2><p>A large, Mid-Atlantic regional healthcare system sought to expand its care delivery model by implementing a robust virtual care program. The goal was to improve patient outcomes, expand access to care, and optimize staffing resources. Partnering with Hicuity Health, the system established a state-of-the-art operations center</p><p><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2024/07/Hicuity-Health-casestudy-shared-services_2024.pdf" target="_blank" title="Health Care System Virtual Care Optimized with Shared Services Solution"><span>Read Case Study</span></a><span> </span></p></div></div></div> /* y-hr3 */ .y-hr3{ clear: both; } .y-hr3 div:nth-child(2) { border-top: solid 2px lightgrey; margin: 50px 0px; height: 0px } /* y-hr3 // */ <div class="row y-hr3"><div class="col-md-3"> </div><div class="col-md-6"> </div><div class="col-md-3"> </div></div><div class="row spacer"><div class="col-sm-8 col-md-offset-2"><div><a href="https://hicuityhealth.com/what-we-do/?utm_source=aha&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=aha-concord-portcos&utm_term=2024&utm_content=casestudy" target="_blank" title="Hicuity Health"><img src="/sites/default/files/2024-07/Logo-Hicuity-834x313.png" alt="Hicuity Health logo" width="417" height="157"></a><h3><a href="https://hicuityhealth.com/what-we-do/?utm_source=aha&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=aha-concord-portcos&utm_term=2024&utm_content=casestudy" target="_blank" title="Hicuity Health">Hicuity Health</a></h3><p>Hicuity Health is the foremost provider of tech-enabled virtual care. We specialize in collaborative and tailored care models that elevate care delivery in hospital, post-acute facilities and in-home care settings. Our high-acuity virtual care solutions include; virtual nursing, tele-ICU, telemetry, virtual sitting, smart device monitoring, and shared services.</p><p>To learn more about Hicuity Health <a href="mailto:Brad.Green@HicuityHealth.com?subject=I%20would%20like%20to%20learn%20more%20about%20your%20solution&body=I%20would%20like%20to%20learn%20more%20about%20the%20work%20your%20company%20is%20doing%20with%20hospitals%20and%20health%20care%20providers." title="contact Steven Reilly">contact Brad Green</a>.</p></div></div></div> /* y-hr3 */ .y-hr3{ clear: both; } .y-hr3 div:nth-child(2) { border-top: solid 2px lightgrey; margin: 50px 0px; height: 0px } /* y-hr3 // */ <div class="row y-hr3"><div class="col-md-3"> </div><div class="col-md-6"> </div><div class="col-md-3"> </div></div> Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:57:04 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-06-11-can-spatial-computing-transform-care-delivery <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Can-Spatial-Computing-Transform-Care-Delivery.png" data-entity-uuid="f1602aa0-ccf2-4f96-8e40-1f078a7114dc" data-entity-type="file" alt="Can Spatial Computing Transform Care Delivery? Clinicians and technicians use the Holobox system to capture a hologram of the clinician for a virtual consultation with a patient." width="100%" height="100%"></p><p>Health care and tech leaders continue to explore ways spatial computing can be used for everything from training clinicians to solving physician shortages and improving mental health access.</p><p>Now a Texas hospital has begun using holographic technology from the Dutch startup <a href="https://www.holoconnects.com/sectors/telehealth/" target="_blank" title="Holoconnects: Embrace the future of telehealth">Holoconnects</a> that enables patients to schedule a non-touch visit with their physicians or specialists.</p><p>The company’s <a href="https://www.holoconnects.com/products/holobox/" title="Holoconnects: Hologram Box: Holobox by Holoconnects" target="_Blank">Holobox</a> hologram displays a lifelike 3D image of the physician and fosters a sense of connection with medical professionals even when they cannot be physically present, Steve Sterling, Holoconnects’ managing director of North America told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferkitepowell/2024/05/28/a-holobox-at-crescent-regional-hospital-connects-patients-to-doctors/?sh=3056df9c1a0f" target="_blank" title="Forbes: A Holobox At Crescent Regional Hospital Connects Patients To Doctors">Forbes</a>. The company opened an office in Q4 last yar in Miami as an official U.S. launch of the technology.</p><p>Physicians using the Holobox can conduct virtual consultations with patients in distant hospitals or clinics and allow doctors to present realistic 3D images of procedures so patients can be better informed about their treatment plans, processes and expected outcomes. Hospital leaders can use the platform to speak with patients before discharge about their hospital experience.</p><p>Holoconnects says about 200 clients use its technology globally, including retail businesses, universities and organizations like UNICEF, the United Nations, Nike and BMW.</p><p>Meanwhile, San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare earlier this year launched its <a href="https://www.sharp.com/media-center/sharp-healthcare-launches-spatial-computing-center-of-excellence" target="_blank" title="Sharp HealthCare: Sharp launches Spatial Computing Center of Excellence">Spatial Computing Center of Excellence</a> in collaboration with its electronic health record vendor Epic and the information analytics firm Elsevier, among others.</p><p>The center is exploring holographic technology to enhance patient care through the Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset. Apple announced plans to cut back Vision Pro production this year due to poor sales, but reportedly remains committed to the technology.</p><p>“Spatial computing will fundamentally change how doctors practice medicine,” Tommy Korn, M.D., a board-certified ophthalmologist with Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, said in a statement. “As we continue to explore the opportunities for applications on Apple Vision Pro, it will enable surgeons like me to transcend the limitations of traditional care, enhancing the safety and precision for our patients like never before.”</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 11 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-03-19-virtual-care-platform-wheel-expands-its-services-focusing-convenience <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img data-entity-uuid="c6f7534e-6617-4faa-a96b-fd5987c2a4f0" data-entity-type="file" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Virtual-Care-Platform-Wheel-Expands-Its-Services-Focusing-on-Convenience_1.png" width="1200" height="596" alt="Virtual Care Platform Wheel Expands Its Services, Focusing on Convenience. A patient uses a phone to speak with a doctor via video on a telehealth app. The logos of CostPlus Drug Company, Health Gorilla, and Talkspace appear in the foreground.."></p><p>The virtual care platform <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wheel-adds-three-high-impact-companies-to-its-integrated-virtual-care-ecosystem-delivering-more-choice-improved-access-and-affordability-to-patients-302083253.html" target="_blank" title="PR Newswire: Wheel Adds Three High-Impact Companies to Its Integrated Virtual Care Ecosystem, Delivering More Choice, Improved Access, and Affordability to Patients">Wheel recently made news</a> by saying it would add three companies into its integrated health care ecosystem this year. The additions of mental health provider <a href="https://www.talkspace.com/" target="_blank" title="Talkspace homepage">Talkspace</a>, <a href="https://costplusdrugs.com/" target="_blank" title="Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company homepage">Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company</a> and the data-sharing program <a href="https://www.healthgorilla.com/" target="_blank" title="Health Gorilla homepage">Health Gorilla</a> will give <a href="https://www.wheel.com/" target="_blank" title="Wheel homepage">Wheel</a> a deeper bench of services with which to connect consumers.</p><p>Wheel’s ecosystem is designed to simplify and streamline health care access for consumers in a single virtual care destination. The platform is available to all its customers who build their virtual care programs on the Wheel platform.</p><p>The company provides the underlying infrastructure to work with payers, retailers like Amazon, pharmaceutical companies and other health care companies, and has a nationwide network of clinicians. Wheel’s technology helps companies scale up telehealth services in a matter of weeks vs. what normally takes 15 months, company officials said.</p><p>The integration with Talkspace is designed to make it easier for consumers to connect virtually with mental health services without long wait times to see a clinician. With access through Wheel, consumers can get home delivery of any of Cost Plus Drugs’ 2,300 prescription medications.</p><p>Health Gorilla enables patients and their care teams to leverage all diagnostic results for fast and effective virtual care, Wheel noted in a statement.</p><p>To date, Wheel has raised $216 million in funding and states that it has delivered care to more than 4.5 million people through its tailored services.</p><p>Officials say that research they commissioned shows that more than 70% of consumers said virtual care had saved them time and allowed them to see a clinician outside of normal in-person office hours. And about 60% said they are willing to pay extra over an in-person appointment for virtual care.</p><p>But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the company. Last year, it laid off 56 employees (28% of its workforce) less than a year after letting go 17% of its staff, <a href="https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/wheel-lays-more-quarter-its-staff" target="_blank" title="MobiHealth News: Wheel lays off more than a quarter of its staff">MobiHealth News reported</a>.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- type="file" width="721" height="130" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 19 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-03-05-guthrie-clinic-adds-virtual-care-hub-address-nursing-shortage-boost-patient <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Guthrie-Clinic-Adds-Virtual-Care-Hub-to-Address-Nursing-Shortage-Boost-Patient-Access-and-Safety.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7d0c45e4-c8ae-45a4-b312-1fbd49e85365" data-entity-type="file" alt="Guthrie Clinic Adds Virtual Care Hub to Address Nursing Shortage, Boost Patient Access and Safety. A clinician sits at a desk working on a computer with a virtual care hub software platform displayed on the screen in front of her." width="100%" height="100%"></p><p>The prospect of closing beds was a wake-up call to the leadership team at Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, Pennsylvania. Its clinical workforce dropped by 43% between April 2022 and April 2023, patients were waiting for intensive care unit beds and burnout was rising among remaining staff.</p><p>In the case study <a href="https://sponsors.aha.org/rs/710-ZLL-651/images/Medical_Informatics_Guthrie_CaseStudy_final.pdf" target="_blank" title="AHA: How Guthrie Clinic resolved its nursing shortage, boosted patient satisfaction and netted savings">“How Guthrie Clinic resolved its nursing shortage, boosted patient satisfaction and netted savings,”</a> Guthrie leaders detail how the shift to a virtual, team-based approach to care extends the reach of bedside nurses, attracts new nurses, creates a culture of collaboration and improves patient monitoring and satisfaction.</p><h2><span>Evaluating the ROI for a Tech-Enabled Virtual Care Team</span></h2><p>After analyzing costs, staffing needs and tech options, Guthrie’s nursing leaders proposed a centralized command center, consolidating on-site staff and hiring experienced virtual nurses and intensivists. In April 2022, Guthrie Clinic launched its Pulse Center, a command center that allows remote nurses to monitor patients visually using a software-based monitoring and analytics platform, cameras and two-way audio communication.</p><p>Guthrie, an Epic customer, primarily used its electronic health record for documentation and added camera capabilities from artificial intelligence (AI) company Artisight and the Sickbay clinical intelligence platform from Medical Informatics Corp. to integrate real-time data from medical instruments. The integrated platforms help to streamline documentation and expedite patient transfers.</p><p><strong>Guthrie’s value proposition:</strong></p><ul><li>In the center’s first year, Guthrie saved $7 million in labor costs by reducing the number of traveling nurses from 172 full-time equivalents to 98.</li><li>Nurse turnover rates fell from 25% to 13% and nurse satisfaction rose.</li><li>Retaining experienced nurses and providing a career path beyond the bedside improves patient safety and outcomes, raises patient satisfaction, and provides guidance and support to bedside nurses.</li></ul><h2><span>4 Keys to Developing a Successful Virtual Care Model</span></h2><h3><span>1</span> <span>|</span> Integrate the virtual care team into the delivery model.</h3><p>Design the command system around the concept of a care team. Take time to optimize workflows and streamline processes. Virtual care notably expands and enhances patients’ access to health care services.</p><h4><span>Takeaway</span></h4><p>Prioritize immediate needs such as monitoring critical care patients, and then med-surg units. Virtual staffing ratios might increase with risk scores.</p><h3><span>2</span> <span>|</span> Shift tasks that can be completed remotely to virtual nurses.</h3><p>Remote nurses are assigned specific patients to monitor and assist, making them a part of regular treatment workflows, and can act as mentors for less experienced bedside nurses. Virtual nurses document patient histories, manage medications, provide extra layers of observation by helping to detect potential health issues early, and update families about patient conditions.</p><h4><span>Takeaway</span></h4><p>Remote roles add to nurse staffing flexibility by allowing for broader staff reallocation, reaching a wider applicant base and retaining valuable in-house expertise. Less time spent on patient documentation and more time providing hands-on care lead to more satisfied patients and families.</p><h3><span>3</span> <span>|</span> Involve bedside staff in program design.</h3><p>To address concerns and gain support, incorporate internal staff in making decisions and executing the rollout.</p><h4><span>Takeaway</span></h4><p>To secure staff buy-in, foster a supportive team atmosphere and celebrate early successes.</p><h3><span>4</span> <span>|</span> Embrace technology advancements.</h3><p>Affordable technology is readily available, and AI advancements can help teams evolve.</p><h4><span>Takeaway</span></h4><p>Be on the lookout for technologies that can extend the reach of the care team.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- type="file" width="721" height="130" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0600 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-02-13-atrium-health-extends-reach-virtual-care-improve-health-and-elevate-hope <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Atrium-Health-Extends-Reach-with-Virtual-Care-to-Improve-Health-and-Elevate-Hope.png" data-entity-uuid="4ede9a04-329e-4866-875e-ea81c9c0340b" data-entity-type="file" alt="Atrium Health Extends Reach with Virtual Care to Improve Health and Elevate Hope. An Atrium Health sign on one of their facilities." width="100%" height="648"></p><p>Atrium Health had a head start on leveraging virtual care tools to streamline care when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It has been a pioneer in the technology tools that support virtual care for more than a decade now.</p><p>In a recent report, <a href="https://cdn.atriumhealth.org/-/media/chs/files/whitepapers/transforming-health-care-delivery-through-virtual-care-01-2024-compressed.pdf" target="_blank" title="Atrium Health: Transforming Health Care Delivery Through Virtual Care">“Transforming Health Care Delivery Through Virtual Care,”</a> Atrium leaders detail how they’ve developed more than 30 virtual programs that streamline access to care, reduce wait times and improve the patient experience. These programs have expanded throughout the medical system to hospitals, schools, community clinics, in-home and on-demand services as well as urgent and primary care settings throughout the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and beyond.</p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Atrium-Health-virtual-care-by-the-numbers.png" data-entity-uuid="34fcaa7e-7479-4b34-8b28-d4a068136ba5" data-entity-type="file" alt="Atrium Health virtual care by the numbers. More than 30 virtual programs. 15 facilities with eICU services. 47 emergency departments with telestroke services. More than 20,000 school- and community-based virtual visits. More than 125,000 behavioral health integration visits annually. More than 57,000 COVID-19 patients served on “observational wing” of virtual hospital at home. Source: Atrium Health." width="100%" height="368"></p><p>Virtual health care at the nonprofit system, part of Advocate Health, is a vital piece of a larger, transformative shift in its entire care model. Katie Kriener, senior vice president of virtual health for Advocate Health and its Southeast region’s medical group operations, notes in the report that technology provides the ability to fulfill the health system’s vision.</p><h2><span>Embedding Virtual Care across Operations</span></h2><p>Virtual care cuts across Atrium Health’s operations, from hospital at home to school- and community-based virtual health care as well as primary and specialty care. “[We’re] looking at the whole person and creating technical connectivity between patients and providers, between patients and clinicians, improving patient activation with greater, more timely access,” Kriener states.</p><p>The numbers illustrate how virtual care permeates the health system’s 40 hospitals and hundreds of care locations.</p><ul><li>15 facilities have eICU services.</li><li>47 emergency departments provide telestroke services.</li><li>More than 20,000 school- and community-based virtual visits are conducted annually.</li><li>More than 125,000 behavioral health integration visits are performed yearly, with another 13,700 such visits delivered in emergency departments (EDs).</li></ul><h2><span>4 Keys to Atrium Health’s Virtual Care Services</span></h2><h3>1. <span>Home-Based Care</span></h3><p>This flagship virtual care program, one of the largest in the nation, gives patients the option to receive hospital-level care in their homes. With a typical daily census of 35 patients during the summer of 2023, the system intends to be able to care for 200 patients daily in the hospital-at-home model by 2025, says Colleen Hole, vice president of clinical integration and administrator of Atrium Health’s hospital-at-home program.</p><h3>2. <span>Virtual School- and Community-Based Care</span></h3><p>Begun as a pilot program with a single rural school in 2017, the program since has expanded to 150 schools, colleges and community sites, serving more than 20,000 adults and children. The program led to a 32% reduction in preventable ED visits and a 50% return-to-classroom rate when schools reopened after the COVID-19 shutdowns. “After reviewing the outcomes, we proved our hypothesis that by seeing children during the day at school, we could reduce the impact on our emergency departments. It also resulted in more class time for the students and less missed work for parents,” said Lyn Nuse, pediatric primary care medical director at Atrium Health Levine Children’s hospital.</p><h3>3. <span>Virtual Care in Rural Settings</span></h3><p>Technology-enhanced virtual care offerings at Atrium Health Anson include virtual cardiology. Leaders there are also working to establish virtual oncology care, so that a patient can receive a chemotherapy infusion locally under the care of a remote oncologist, without having to drive an hour or more into Charlotte, North Carolina.</p><h3>4. <span>Virtual Behavioral Health</span></h3><p>With a growing need in the community, the health system ramped up its virtual behavioral health programs in all care areas, including hospital, home, school, community and primary care settings. In a dozen acute care hospitals in the system’s Charlotte market, consult teams are available, offering care that is efficient. Care is also available in rural hospitals where there is no psychiatrist on staff. A virtual patient navigation and transition care program allows patients who have been treated in the ED to receive follow-up care at home.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 13 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0600 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /advancing-health-podcast/2023-11-20-better-behavioral-health-care-through-collaboration-and-virtual-care <p>In the U.S. health care system, the demand for behavioral health care has long outpaced availability, with many patients forced to turn to their primary care providers for help. To find a solution, Henry Ford Health System decided to get creative with a new collaborative care program that for the first time integrated primary care with behavioral health. In this conversation, four clinicians from Henry Ford discuss the beginnings of the program and how collaboration and technology have made it easier to see patients than ever before.</p> <hr /> <div></div> <details class="transcript"><summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."><span>View Transcript</span><br />  </h2> </summary> <p>00;00;01;02 - 00;00;36;01<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> The old sports saying there is no I in team recognizes that collaborative efforts can often attain goals beyond what an individual or even a single department can achieve. Six years ago, Henry Ford Health System put that principle into action in a big way, and today their patients are better off for it. Welcome to Advancing Health, a podcast from the ���������� Association.</p> <p>00;00;36;03 - 00;00;58;23<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> I'm Tom Haederle, with AHA Communications. It's not exactly news that the demand for behavioral health care has outstripped available resources for a long time. The pandemic made that well-known problem even worse, as many patients who needed therapy or other behavioral health services were forced to turn to their primary care providers for help, rather than face a long wait for scarce specialists.</p> <p>00;00;58;25 - 00;01;25;28<br /> Tom Haederle<br /> In response, Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System decided to create a new collaborative care program that for the first time integrated primary care with behavioral health, in essence, "marrying" two departments that had always been separate. How has it worked out? In today's podcast, four clinicians from Henry Ford join the AHA’s Rebecca Chickey, senior director of Behavioral Health Services, Clinical Affairs and Workforce, to answer that question.</p> <p>00;01;26;00 - 00;01;53;10<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Thank you, Tom. I have the honor today of being joined by four experts from Henry Ford Health System. First of all, Dr. Dizon, who is the physician practice lead at the Henry Ford Medical Center in Dearborn, Michigan, part of the Henry Ford health system. Dr. Doree Ann Espiritu, who is the medical director of behavioral health at the adult outpatient division at Henry Ford Health.</p> <p>00;01;53;13 - 00;02;26;09<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Amanda May a licensed clinical social worker and the Collaborative Care Operations director at Henry Ford Health. And Dr. Osunfisan who is a consultant psychiatrist, also at Henry Ford. So it is my honor to be joined with these four clinicians who have years of experience in integration even before COVID, but how they put the value of integration in the forefront when COVID hit</p> <p>00;02;26;11 - 00;02;46;29<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> and really were able to scale and improve access to psychiatric services during that time and into the future. So I'm going to kick us off by asking Dr. Espiritu, why do we need integration and what is integration of physical and behavioral health?</p> <p>00;02;47;01 - 00;03;01;08<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> Hello and thank you so much for giving our team at Henry Ford Health the opportunity to be able to discuss with you a very exciting program that has been in operation since 2017.</p> <p>00;03;01;11 - 00;03;28;27<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> So we all know how overwhelmed and broken mental health care has been for quite some time. And COVID 19 pandemic has led to even a bigger crisis in the access of mental health services. So we also know that even if we were to hire everyone who works in mental health care, we will never be able to meet the demand.</p> <p>00;03;29;00 - 00;04;00;09<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> And that's how difficult it was at Henry Ford. Majority of the patients who have mental health conditions were sent through their primary care doctors, and this led to even a more overwhelming affect to the primary care doctors because they are not able to, number one, address their mental health needs appropriately or sometimes their patients fall into a dark spot because they're not followed by a behavioral health professional.</p> <p>00;04;00;11 - 00;04;34;03<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> So we were hurting. Primary care was hurting. And so we looked into different programs across the country and how we learned about the collaborative care model of University of Washington aims. And so we decided that this was going to be the integrated program that we were going to implement at Henry Ford. So Dr. Dizon was one of the champions in primary care, and he will also, you know, describe how it was prior to the collaborative care model.</p> <p>00;04;34;05 - 00;05;07;03<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> Thanks, Dorian. Yeah. So I'm a primary care physician, internist in Henry Ford, and it was really a great opportunity to participate in my mind. Collaborative care really is an extension of evolution of team-based care. So not only are you having facets of a team in your own clinic, you're involving another department, behavioral health in the primary care setting and actually integrating, as you would say, into the into patient care.</p> <p>00;05;07;05 - 00;05;39;22<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> And so we definitely needed that in our primary care setting. As a internist, it is really hard to get care for my patients when it's needed. Some therapy, they needed some medication referrals, etc. So this really allowed us to really improve the access and shorten the time it takes to see someone. I think in the past it was months out to see a therapist and then after that we were able to cut that by a few weeks and I think that's really a great success.</p> <p>00;05;39;23 - 00;05;54;11<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> It's really helped in my practice. It's really helped my colleagues' morale and it's given us a lot of confidence in knowing that we have a another department, another facet of primary care and behavioral health working together.</p> <p>00;05;54;13 - 00;06;17;19<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So I'm going to ask you to build on that just a little bit. Dr. Dizon and Dr. Espiritu, to please feel free to join. But you talk about having it's an expansion of the team approach, and I love that because it really is. And it's interesting, a lot of behavioral health care, particularly inpatient, has operated as a team for decades.</p> <p>00;06;17;21 - 00;06;34;05<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And now some of our colleagues are saying, well, things work better when they're done in a team. And we're like, yes, and we can share some of our experiences with you. So can you give me a little bit more on what the team is, what it's comprised of?</p> <p>00;06;34;07 - 00;06;43;10<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> So we are introducing two members into the primary care team, and that is the behavioral health integration. 00;06;43;10 - 00;07;08;17<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> Psychotherapist in the collaborative care model, they are the behavioral care managers, but because we didn't want to confuse too many care managers, they are too behavioral health information therapists. And then there's the psychiatric consultant, which is me. And Dr. Osunfisan is one who works with the therapists and gives recommendation sessions to the primary care doctors like Dr. John.</p> <p>00;07;08;22 - 00;07;41;23<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> And the reason why I think it's a true essence of a team is that once we get consulted, we're there for them. You know, we're not prescribing per se, because, you know, we we are not in primary care. Dr. Dizon will do the prescribing if there needs to be an the present. But if they need anything in terms of questions about antidepressants, in terms of how to move forward with the care, in terms of where to send the patient, we're there for them.</p> <p>00;07;41;25 - 00;08;00;27<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> A lot of mild conditions are being given to primary care to treat. And you know, for behavioral health, we don't leave them on their own. We're there with them. Mild to moderate psychiatric conditions...help them out.</p> <p>00;08;00;29 - 00;08;29;18<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> I think that's really key, just that we have the help. So it's given us primary care physicians a lot of confidence in prescribing medications. We have a very in real-time feedback from the therapists. They will tell us, oh, patient X, we saw for this depression or anxiety. You know, the psychiatric consultant recommends medication A and let us know, you know how it does in a few weeks.</p> <p>00;08;29;20 - 00;08;50;08<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> They even give us information dosage information, what kind of side effects to look out for. So it really helps us in primary care to gain some confidence in treating some of these mild to moderate mental health conditions. And that will in the end, just help us become more effective as primary care physicians with their help.</p> <p>00;08;50;11 - 00;08;52;06<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And be able to treat the whole person.</p> <p>00;08;52;06 - 00;08;52;23<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> Exactly.</p> <p>00;08;52;25 - 00;09;05;15<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And not have to wait for periods of time, longer periods of time to actually be treating all of the disorders that an individual patient may have. Is that correct?</p> <p>00;09;05;18 - 00;09;06;20<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> Yes, Yes,</p> <p>00;09;06;23 - 00;09;07;09<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> yes.</p> <p>00;09;07;12 - 00;09;35;20<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> And at a place where they feel most comfortable, you know. They don't need to leave primary care and go to a brick and mortar psychiatric clinic where sometimes they fear that they can be stigmatized if seen in that clinic. So it's improving access. It is improving primary care physicians' satisfaction when they are being able to treat individuals with behavioral health and comorbid physical conditions.</p> <p>00;09;35;24 - 00;10;09;15<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And it's reducing stigma. I think that's kind of a win-win-win trifecta, as they would say. But how did this all come about? Amanda, I hear you might be the individual who really is the operation champion in taking this evidence-based, because I think there have been over 100, if not more, evidence-based studies that have shown that collaborative care management can and does work to improve outcomes and reduce the total cost of care.</p> <p>00;10;09;17 - 00;10;17;05<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> But how do you get from Ground zero to implementing this? What are your success factors and what have you seen?</p> <p>00;10;17;07 - 00;10;33;03<br /> Amanda May<br /> Yeah, so it takes a lot of patience and a lot of teamwork. We have a small but mighty team that's done a lot of work for this. What we did is we started in a very small location. We started at one of Dr. Dizon's clinics and we started just with those providers.</p> <p>00;10;33;03 - 00;11;03;16<br /> Amanda May<br /> We really embedded ourselves within the team and got to know the primary care providers, but not just them, their staff. They're amazed there's CSRs to help get that buy-in and that trust of our program. We had a very kind of outlined timeline of how we rolled out and all of the trainings that we did. And then when we implemented our program, actually I, myself or some of our other therapists would go and work from that primary care clinic just for a little bit of time until the primary care providers got comfortable.</p> <p>00;11;03;19 - 00;11;27;26<br /> Amanda May<br /> After we got through our first couple of clinics, word started to spread and we got those early adopters, and that's when it really took off. Once we had some champions like Dr. Dizon to help share the success stories that their patients had. It helped other doctors to see that there were actual measurable change that was happening and that helped them to want to try the program too.</p> <p>00;11;27;26 - 00;11;44;00<br /> Amanda May<br /> So from there we spread to all 32 of our primary care sites very quickly after that. So from 1 to 32 primary care sites, over what period of time, if I could ask about two years. Wow. We had a very busy few years.</p> <p>00;11;44;02 - 00;12;09;01<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> We had to start slow first. You know, I think that was the key, is start slow to move fast. I think I heard someone mentioned you have to go slow in order to go fast and really ironing out the kinks. Initially, it's a lot of hand-holding and we appreciate Amanda really doing the hard work of doing the hand-holding for our primary care physicians, reassuring them that, you know, it's it really works.</p> <p>00;12;09;01 - 00;12;28;18<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> It's very effective. And once we could share the patient stories and share physician testimonials about the success of the program, it has the snowball effect. And then people really push to get access to this program and really are asking us, oh, we want it in our program, we want it in our clinic, we want it here. When can you come?</p> <p>00;12;28;20 - 00;12;30;16<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> And that's when it really took off.</p> <p>00;12;30;19 - 00;12;55;14<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> And from primary care was finished. And then when we spread to pediatrics, it was already covered, but we were ready. You know, that wasn't a hindrance to our spread. So it also is very important that the upper C-suite was the big driver, you know, so there were no worries in terms of, wow, how much is it going to cost?</p> <p>00;12;55;14 - 00;13;08;08<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> You know, everyone knew from top down how important it was to integrate in a big system, not just a big system for, you know, an approach with primary care and behavioral health.</p> <p>00;13;08;10 - 00;13;16;16<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So, I had two thoughts there before we move on. So what's been the outcomes of this other than the all the positives that we've already mentioned?</p> <p>00;13;16;18 - 00;13;41;18<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Dr. Dizon, I have a feeling you are being very humble because a word that I've heard a couple of times already is champion. And I do believe that in most projects, particularly when you're trying to transform the delivery of health care, it's just critical to have a champion from the peer group that this transformation is going to impact.</p> <p>00;13;41;18 - 00;14;07;01<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So I'm looking at your colleagues now. I realize this is a podcast, but we are all on screen with each other and they are smiling broadly. Just to let those of you who are listening know that I'm not off base in saying that having Dr. Dizon as a champion is one of the critical success factors and something I think they would recommend to anyone trying to move into the collaborative care model.</p> <p>00;14;07;03 - 00;14;32;02<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> I think I would agree and I think that it will. All of us are champions actually. You know, it would not be possible without the leadership of Dr. Espiritu to and Amanda and then Dr. O coming in and lending additional perspectives. I think it really is a team effort. You know, you can't have it without someone to really engage everyone and everyone has a piece to play.</p> <p>00;14;32;04 - 00;14;48;02<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> So in the primary care space, I have to really push to change the culture, push to engage people, and then behavioral has to do the same thing. And it just shows how every piece fits with every other and forms a greater whole.</p> <p>00;14;48;04 - 00;14;51;07<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> What do they say? There's no I in team so.</p> <p>00;14;51;10 - 00;14;51;21<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> That's true.</p> <p>00;14;51;22 - 00;15;12;05<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> The second thing before we go into sort of outcomes, because I know that's probably what everyone is anxiously waiting to hear, like what has been the impact? Can you tell us a little bit about the virtualness Amanda, you mentioned that early on in the first couple of clinics, you you actually physically went to the clinic and walked through that.</p> <p>00;15;12;05 - 00;15;19;26<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> But how did you get to 100%? Is this a word, virtuality and sustain it?</p> <p>00;15;19;28 - 00;15;36;02<br /> Amanda May<br /> Even though I was there physically in the clinic, I was still seeing the patients virtually, which is funny. So we've been 100% virtual since the start. And part of that is because we knew how many clinics we wanted to be able to work with and we knew how limited the resources were.</p> <p>00;15;36;02 - 00;16;00;24<br /> Amanda May<br /> And so we wanted a team that was able to treat patients in one city at 10 a.m., at a next city at 10:30, and virtual was really the way to do that. We originally did telemedicine appointments, which were clinic to clinic, so the patient was located in a primary care clinic like Dr. Dizon, and the provider was located at a central location, which was one of our behavioral health clinics in Detroit.</p> <p>00;16;00;26 - 00;16;19;11<br /> Amanda May<br /> But then we were luckily given the opportunity to test out mobile video visits where the patient could be at home and the provider could be at home. And we actually ended up testing that out in late 2018 or early 2019. And I'll say as a provider, I was nervous about this at first. I didn't know how it would go and I love it.</p> <p>00;16;19;11 - 00;16;43;01<br /> Amanda May<br /> I love it so much. It's something it has an effect on the patients, you know, it reduces cost and time spent for them. It definitely improves satisfaction of my providers on my team. They were very happy and as a provider, I get a really unique look into the patients lives that I don't usually get in therapy. So I'm able to get their families involved, have their kids involved in their therapy.</p> <p>00;16;43;04 - 00;16;51;25<br /> Amanda May<br /> That doesn't usually happen. Even seeing their home setting, that's not something we often get, but the virtual component gives me that and it's been really helpful.</p> <p>00;16;51;27 - 00;17;05;16<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So it also allows you a glimpse without doing some sort of sophisticated survey into the social drivers of health that may be impacting the individual by going mobile. Wow, I hadn't thought of that component.</p> <p>00;17;05;16 - 00;17;21;17<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So thank you for those insights. So what has this meant in terms of outcomes for patients? I've heard a little bit from Dr. Dizon and others that this really has helped physician satisfaction, but what's it meant to the patients?</p> <p>00;17;21;19 - 00;17;40;26<br /> Amanda May<br /> We have some outcomes that we've been really proud of. So we talked about the virtual component in 2022 Just in our adult behavioral health integration program, we did over 12,500 video visits where patients were located at home, and that means that it saved over 148,000 miles on travel.</p> <p>00;17;40;26 - 00;18;07;13<br /> Amanda May<br /> And that's money that we're saving for our patients and time that they're getting back. But most importantly, some of those clinical outcomes, though, in our adult program right now, we have over 2000 patients who are in remission and over about 2500 times the patients have been in remission. So some of our patients come back for a second or third episode of care and they reach remission again, or maybe have a new life stressor going on.</p> <p>00;18;07;13 - 00;18;32;22<br /> Amanda May<br /> But we're able to get them feeling better, faster. Another thing - and this is kind of just a quick sneak peek of some preliminary findings that will be coming out - but we have found that patients who initiated treatment and had a higher remission and response rate on both the Q9, which is the Depression screener and the GAD seven, which is our anxiety screener, than those who didn't initiate treatment.</p> <p>00;18;32;25 - 00;18;41;24<br /> Amanda May<br /> So we're seeing, even in these initial research findings, that patients are getting better just by initiating treatment in the program.</p> <p>00;18;41;26 - 00;18;58;07<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So. Dr. O, I'm going to call on you to add to what Dr. Dizon has already said regarding physician satisfaction. As I understand it, the program was robust and growing and scaling when you came on board.</p> <p>00;18;58;10 - 00;19;14;04<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So you had the benefit of coming in with an almost baked cake, I guess I would say ready to put the icing on. And so what's been your experience in terms of being able to benefit from this and also think about the future?</p> <p>00;19;14;07 - 00;19;39;24<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> So it's been a great experience for me just coming from another system and joining Henry Ford and the great champions, the work they've done already and just been able to be part of this has been rewarding to be able to collaborate with other primary care physicians. So even just like what Dr. Dizon was saying, I mean, you know, one of the primary care physician and they just they're excited.</p> <p>00;19;39;24 - 00;20;07;27<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> They're happy. They're grateful for what we've done, how we help them, the real time recommendation, the expert on recommendation, and then, you know, they feel more comfortable being able to manage the mild to moderate anxiety and depression that, you know, they don't have to wait three months before they have to see psychiatry, but their patients are happy. The patients feel, you know, supportive that their primary care physician is involved in their care.</p> <p>00;20;08;04 - 00;20;52;17<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> So it's not just go to behavioral health and, you know, don't come back. But Dr. Dizon is involved. Doctor Dizon knows, okay: doctor should be sent up to speed to meet his recommendation. Does Dr. Dizon support this recommendation, the side effect, what is going on? So just having that collaboration of all the providers with the therapist, it's been received with great satisfaction, even to the patients, even to the physicians, even to me. You know, even the the consultant is enabled to be there to be able to support the all collaboration has been really great and really, you know, looking forward to even expanding even beyond primary care, which Amanda will probably talk a little bit</p> <p>00;20;52;17 - 00;21;09;08<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> more about. But one of the things that physicians say is, you know, they don't feel burnt out. They don't, you know, the stigma of their patients. The patient is not just going to say, I'm just going to see a shrink. No, I feel like I'm still just going for my primary care visit. But my my mental health is being managed.</p> <p>00;21;09;10 - 00;21;34;07<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> You know what Dr. Dizon said that before about the access. This has improved access. And overall, the burnout for me, you can tell from my excitement, I really enjoy what I do and this has reduced the burnout even for me, just being able to put things into context. If a patient was coming to see me in the clinic or a new visit is an hour and a follow up is 30 minutes.</p> <p>00;21;34;09 - 00;21;55;23<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> For this one, I get to touch at least ten lives in an hour and meet with the therapist every week. And we reviewed their cases, and you know, the patient registry who is not doing well. You know, our target. The target is to remission or at least five points down of the PHQ and the and the GP seven.</p> <p>00;21;55;23 - 00;22;17;16<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> So being able to touch ten lives at least in an hour compared to maybe two is very, very rewarding to to me. And I excitedly looking forward to opportunities as we expand beyond primary care and just really grateful for the team.</p> <p>00;22;17;19 - 00;22;55;23<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> From the mental health, the psychiatry side. We're not proud if we're not able to see our patients come back when they are really in need of our care. But with having a registry, we know exactly how many patients are served. We know how many patients need to be seen. Again, we know how many patients are in remission. So that is the rewarding piece of being a psychiatrist as part of a collaborative care model, is is knowing exactly where those 2,000 patients are, you know, who is still in treatment and who is in remission.</p> <p>00;22;55;26 - 00;22;58;15<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> So that that's the other reward.</p> <p>00;22;58;18 - 00;23;25;14<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> That's phenomenal. And I'll just say for the listeners, Dr. Espiritu mentioned the registry. If you Google collaborative care model, which is what we're talking about here, there are some key components of this integration model that were developed. It was mentioned earlier at the University of Washington State. Dr. Utser was one of the key drivers of the creation of this model.</p> <p>00;23;25;14 - 00;23;44;06<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So if you want to learn more about the individual components of collaborative care, which is reimbursed by Medicare now, please feel free to give it a Google. But Amanda closes out here a little bit. Give me a couple of things. That is, what are the next steps for this integration model at Henry Ford?</p> <p>00;23;44;08 - 00;23;52;21<br /> Amanda May<br /> One thing Dr. Espiritu and I were just talking about this morning is that in order to continue to expand, we also have to sustain what we already have.</p> <p>00;23;52;21 - 00;24;12;01<br /> Amanda May<br /> And so one of the most important parts to us is making sure that we have annual clinic restrictions with our clinics that we already work with. We want to make sure that they're comfortable. Any new providers know about our program and that we're keeping that collaboration strong. So we're putting just as much effort into those clinics as to our future.</p> <p>00;24;12;04 - 00;24;35;12<br /> Amanda May<br /> But as Dr. Espiritu mentioned earlier, we have now expanded into all 15 of our pediatric clinics. Our pediatric behavioral health integration program is now expanding into our family medicine clinics. We have started a women's health or perinatal behavioral health integration that as of today actually is live at five of our clinics. And we'll be expanding through the rest.</p> <p>00;24;35;14 - 00;24;58;07<br /> Amanda May<br /> And we're going to look in the upcoming years of how we can partner even in the areas of substance use. There's more research coming out showing that this program can be effective in many different areas, not just in primary care. And we want to make sure that we have every opportunity to help our patients and our providers throughout the system who need access to this type of care.</p> <p>00;24;58;09 - 00;25;21;17<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Well, this is phenomenal. It is such an honor to be able to share the work that you're doing with a broader field who weren't able to attend the AHA’s 2023 Leadership Summit, where they gave a much more in-depth presentation on this topic. As I close out our podcast today, I want to for the listeners point them to a website at AHA.</p> <p>00;25;21;18 - 00;25;56;08<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> It is aha.org/behavioral health. And when you scroll down on that page, you will see that one of the strategic priorities of the ���������� Association is to advance the integration of physical and behavioral health. So the recording of this podcast will be accessible there along with a number of other resources, one of which is a just released in August of 2023, a four page brief on the value of integrating physical and behavioral health.</p> <p>00;25;56;08 - 00;26;27;22<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> We've mentioned a number of those key topics today: reducing stigma, improving patient outcomes, reducing burnout of both psychiatrist and primary care physicians. In addition to those, it can reduce health disparities. You can actually have a positive return on investment through integration, which is something I want to emphasize for those listening. And that issue brief provides the research that backs up all the statements that have been made here today.</p> <p>00;26;27;24 - 00;26;48;17<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> So as we close out any I'm going to start with Dr. Espiritu: what do you want the listeners to remember the most? Give me one thing, each of you. So Dr. Espiritu, you get to go first that behavioral integration with primary care is the way to go, and that it is not as hard as others think it is.</p> <p>00;26;48;19 - 00;26;58;09<br /> Doree Ann Espiritu, M.D.<br /> It's a fun project. Everyone, not just the patients. They're still all smiling. Yes, we're still smiling. Yeah, thank you for this opportunity,</p> <p>00;26;58;11 - 00;27;01;11<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> Dr. Dizon, any message? Last message for you.</p> <p>00;27;01;13 - 00;27;05;15<br /> Emmanuel Dizon, M.D.<br /> I think the teamwork is really the key and it is the future for health care.</p> <p>00;27;05;17 - 00;27;07;15<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And Amanda?</p> <p>00;27;07;18 - 00;27;18;20<br /> Amanda May<br /> Yeah, I have to agree that teamwork really makes all of the difference here. This is something that can have a huge impact on your patients and your systems. And I encourage you so much to look into this.</p> <p>00;27;18;22 - 00;27;20;23<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> And finally, Dr. O, bring it home.</p> <p>00;27;20;25 - 00;27;45;29<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> So I'm going to agree with everyone, but really emphasize what Dr. Dizon said. It is indeed the future. And if you're listening to us and you are not sure, we say go for it, try it out. If you have questions, reach out. But this is the future of medicine. Because of the access, because of stigma, just do it, go for it and do it.</p> <p>00;27;45;29 - 00;28;08;00<br /> Tiwalola Osunfisan, M.D.<br /> And it is rewarding to the psychiatrist, rewarding to the primary care physician, rewarding to the behavioral health therapist. And it brings satisfaction to the patient. Because of the convenience, they can see their providers from anywhere in Michigan. So if you're thinking about this and you're not sure, do it.</p> <p>00;28;08;02 - 00;28;10;21<br /> Rebecca Chickey<br /> The time is now. Thank you so much.</p> </details> Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:49:28 -0600 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-10-31-4-ways-wellstar-health-funding-collaborative-innovation <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-8"> <p><img alt="4 Ways Wellstar Health Is Funding Collaborative Innovation. A palliative care clinician wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset experiences training on communicating a life-altering diagnosis to patients." data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="61484c53-e518-4df4-b3cb-22e7f9684113" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/4-Ways-Wellstar-Health-Is-Funding-Collaborative-Innovation.png" width="620" height="381"></p> <p>At Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Georgia, palliative care practitioners have been using a virtual reality (VR) platform to simulate the most difficult conversations any clinician may have to deliver — communicating a life-altering diagnosis.</p> <p>Immersed in a virtual setting, clinicians speak with a woman named Alice about the serious progression of her cancer and to help her navigate next steps. The training uses live actors rather than avatars or animation, creating a powerful and emotional experience like those palliative care professionals face almost every day.</p> <p>The platform allows caregivers to practice these crucial conversations in a safe space while maintaining the emotions and intensity that make this challenging in the care environment, says Anjali Grandhige, Wellstar’s palliative medicine director.</p> <h2><span>Investing in Collaborative Innovation</span></h2> <p>The Compassionate Conversations training came about through a <a href="https://catalyst.wellstar.org/groundbreaking-compassionate-conversations-virtual-reality-training-debuts-at-hlth-2023/" target="_blank" title="Catalyst by Wellstar: Groundbreaking “Compassionate Conversations” Virtual Reality Training Debuts at HLTH 2023">collaboration</a> between <a href="https://www.wellstar.org/" target="_blank" title="Wellstar Health System homepage.">Wellstar Health</a> and VR communications technology startup <a href="https://www.mothandflamevr.com/" target="_blank" title="Moth+Flame homepage.">Moth+Flame</a>. <a href="https://catalyst.wellstar.org/" target="_blank" title="Catalyst by Wellstar homepage.">Catalyst by Wellstar</a>, the innovation arm of Wellstar Health System, helped fund the startup.</p> <p>Catalyst by Wellstar is a $100 million venture fund launched by the parent health system in May. It aims to make more than 50 investments — from pre-seed to Series A rounds — over the next five years. Investments will target companies addressing issues like customer experience, data analytics and security, digital health, workforce, supply chain, logistics and sustainability.</p> <p>The Moth+Flame investment illustrates Wellstar’s focus on being more than an innovation financier. The health system, which provides care for 1.6 million Georgians annually and provided $1.2 billion in uncompensated care last year, works shoulder to shoulder with many of the startups it helps to fund.</p> <h2><span>Bringing Robotics to Surgical Instrument Sterilization</span></h2> <p>Catalyst by Wellstar’s investment this month in <a href="https://www.rifrobotics.com/" target="_blank" title="RIF Robotics homepage.">RIF Robotics</a> is another example of the venture fund’s strategic partnership with a company to which it provides seed money. The fund’s investment with the tech startup focused on improving the sterile processing of surgical instruments with the aid of robots and includes a <a href="https://catalyst.wellstar.org/rif-robotics-pilot-aims-to-improve-patient-and-team-member-safety-in-sterile-processing/" target="_blank" title="Catalyst by Wellstar: RIF Robotics Pilot Aims to Improve Patient and Team Member Safety in Sterile Processing">pilot with RIF</a> to further refine its technology with feedback from Wellstar staff on the front lines of sterile processing.</p> <p>More than 51 million surgeries are performed in the United States every year with each one requiring between three and 30 instrument trays. Mistakes in sterile processing can lead to unsafe outcomes for patients and medical staff with estimated costs of $25 billion in operating room delays.</p> <p>By year-end, RIF aims to achieve the automated assembly of a basic surgical tray before launching the robots for broad commercialization. The pilot with Wellstar will employ artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and robotics to automate the sterilization of instruments used in hospitals. The technology is designed to improve patient and hospital team member safety while enhancing operational efficiency.</p> <h2><span>4 Ways Catalyst by Wellstar Is Advancing Innovation</span></h2> <p>The first four investments made by Catalyst by Wellstar target ways to improve care delivery, safety, decontamination of facilities and innovation tracking.</p> <ol> <li><strong><a href="https://www.maranihealth.com/" target="_blank" title="Marani Health homepage."><span>Marani Health</span></a></strong> developed an AI-powered fetal monitoring system designed to deliver a better pregnancy experience for patients and their care teams.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://410medical.com/" target="_blank" title="410 Medical homepage."><span>410 Medical</span></a></strong> created a hand-operated infuser device that enables clinicians to deliver blood or fluids rapidly to critically ill patients requiring volume resuscitation.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://vyv.tech/" target="_blank" title="Vyv homepage."><span>Vyv</span></a></strong>, an antimicrobial tech startup, developed an ultraviolet-free light that kills viruses like SARS-CoV-2, bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, mildew and odors.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://metacx.com/" target="_blank" title="MetaCX homepage."><span>MetaCX</span></a></strong> launched a software platform that enables Catalyst to drive collaboration across Wellstar’s nine hospitals and five health parks to collect and understand distributed data, align stakeholders on shared strategic plans and monitor progress toward desired outcomes. The company’s scope of work with Catalyst ranges from sustainability issues to employee wellness and digital transformation.</li> </ol> </div> <div class="col-md-4"> <p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" type="file" class="align-center"></a></p> <a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img alt data-entity-type data-entity-uuid src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png"></a></div> </div> </div> .field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 31 Oct 2023 10:31:16 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR) /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2023-10-03-tampa-general-hospital-implements-virtual-hospital-platform <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-8"> <p><img alt="Tampa General Hospital Implements Virtual Hospital Platform. Tampa (Florida) General Hospital (TGH)." data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b0897e2c-e648-4ce0-9c5c-d473ed649d24" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Tampa-General-Hospital-Implements-Virtual-Hospital-Platform.png" width="620" height="381"></p> <p>To enhance patient care and transform the way care teams communicate and collaborate, <a href="https://www.tgh.org/" target="_blank" title="Ampa General Hospital homepage">Tampa (Florida) General Hospital (TGH)</a> is expanding its use of a virtual hospital platform in its intensive care unit and plans to expand to other care teams.</p> <p><a href="https://andorhealth.com/thinkAndor.html" target="_blank" title="ThinkAndor landing page">ThinkAndor Virtual Hospital</a> from <a href="https://andorhealth.com/" target="_blank" title="Andor Health homepage">Andor Health</a> is a configurable, cloud-based platform designed to improve the patient experience and the working environment for clinicians and ancillary teams; to deliver real-time actionable intelligence; and to assist in more efficient clinical decision-making. It uses artificial intelligence to stream multiple end points into a single dashboard or connect with the hospital’s electronic health record system.</p> <p>TGH, one of the nation’s largest hospitals (1,040 beds), is part of a not-for-profit academic health system encompassing 17 medical group primary care offices, a Level I trauma center, comprehensive stroke center, family care center, outpatient center, virtual health services, organ transplant center, burn center and 21 imaging outpatient radiology centers.</p> <h2>The virtual platform gives care teams the ability to:</h2> <ul> <li>Observe a patient’s clinical progress virtually.</li> <li>Invite clinicians and providers for provider-to-provider consultations</li> <li>Host multidisciplinary calls.</li> <li>Connect specialists for on-demand remote consultations.</li> <li>Invite family members, caregivers or even friends to join the patient’s virtual conversation.</li> <li>Set up alerts for fall risk, elopement and patient movement.</li> <li>Capture a patient’s self-reported information.</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://www.tgh.org/about-tgh/tampa-general-hospital-leadership/tampa-general-hospital-executive-biographies#:~:text=NISHIT%20PATEL%2C%20MD&text=academic%20health%20system.-,Dr.,patient%20safety%20and%20clinician%20efficiency." target="_blank" title="Tampa General Hospital: Tampa General Hospital Executive Biographies">Nishit Patel, M.D., chief medical informatics officer at TGH</a>, says the platform gives clinicians the ability to care for patients using the right clinical content and context remotely. It allows caregivers to continuously observe at-risk patients from anywhere, at any time, driving a collaborative practice while improving overall patient outcomes.</p> </div> <div class="col-md-4"> <p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" type="file" class="align-center"></a></p> <a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img alt data-entity-type data-entity-uuid src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png"></a></div> </div> </div> .field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:00:00 -0500 Virtual Care and Virtual Reality (VR)