TeleNocturnist: The Meat and Potatoes of Telemedicine Patient Care
When we entered the telemedicine field nine years ago to deliver TeleNocturnist hospitalist care, we knew we had a winner on our hands. What we couldn’t predict was how the field would evolve over the following decade.
We knew specialties would be hot. TeleStroke services can make the difference between a stroke patient being treated quickly and going home the next day, or spending the rest of his or her life in a nursing home.
In the ICU, recent evidence suggests that providing intensive care specialists through telemedicine (tele-intensivists) can address the 30 percent shortage of intensivists and reduce ICU mortality rates by 15-30 percent, helping hospitals meet the strict Leapfrog standards for staffing in ICUs.
TeleNephrology care is getting lots of attention, too, as a means of helping hospitals serve their communities better, but also earn the typical $10,000 in reimbursement revenue when they are able to care for a patient on dialysis (rather than transferring that patient to a distant tertiary hospital). Most hospitals have the equipment necessary for dialysis. Often, it’s gathering dust in a storage room somewhere. What they typically lack is the nephrologist to manage the treatment program. TeleNephrologists can do that…easily and cost effectively.