What do you find most appealing about treating infectious diseases as a Tele-ID specialist?
Telemedicine provider and Tele-ID specialist, Dr. Charles Kutler, talks about why he enjoys working as a infectious disease specialist.
ASCENSION ST. MICHEAL’S HOSPITAL • WISCONSIN • INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Ascension Virtually Eliminates Infectious Disease Transfers with Eagle Tele-ID
Key Benefits
Telemed Care Savings Exceed Program Costs
Easy Rollout for 8 Hospitals, Multiple EMRs
Telemedicine Conditions that Motivate Hospitals to Seek Tele-ID Specialists
As the pandemic ramped up, and hospitals faced a surge in patients that Tele-ID specialists can diagnose and treat remotely. At the same time, the lack of onsite infectious disease (ID) specialists became critical. The confluence of a specialist shortage and a telemedicine solution led many hospitals to seek out emergency hospital telemedicine programs.
Rural and small community hospitals were especially affected by the shortage of ID physicians, as most don’t have the resources or patient need to keep this type of specialist on staff full-time. Instead, they rely on internal medicine or emergency medicine practitioners who don’t have the ID expertise.
Infectious disease is one of the most frequently consulted service in most hospitals. However, several media outlets are projecting a shortage of infectious disease providers. Furthermore, a maldistribution of these specialists exacerbates this shortage by limiting the locations where infectious disease telehealth physicians are available for consult.
