St. Luke’s University Health Network realized it needed technology that could help expand care across its 14 hospitals throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey spanning both urban and rural areas, reports Healthcare IT News.
The organization was looking for a way not only to expand network coverage but also to reduce time to consult. It also wanted to expand access to care whenever patients needed it, which St. Luke’s knew would require additional clinical coverage. The provider organization realized through virtual care it could enable its clinicians to see patients much faster.
“Another problem we had was with the number of solutions we were using,” noted Jody McCloud Missmer, behavioral health network administrator, St. Luke’s University Health Network.
t. Luke’s always had wanted to leverage virtual care for psychiatric services but was restricted by regulatory and reimbursement issues. When the pandemic hit, it opened regulatory and reimbursement doors, allowing the organization to take virtual care to the next level.
It started to use virtual care technology in the inpatient unit, emergency department, outpatient unit, integrated care and school-based care – across the board.
The results show that patients got better in a virtual setting as effectively as they did in an in-person setting. Perhaps most important, telehealth provided the flexibility to pivot along the way and maintain a consistent care continuum for patients from wherever they were. Read more.
