Lexington, Kentucky-based Appalachian Regional Healthcare is deploying new tele-ICU capabilities across all of its dozen hospitals in Kentucky and West Virginia.

WHY IT MATTERS
Working in partnership with vendor Advanced ICU Care, which provides telemedicine technology and services, the health system kicked off the implementation this week at Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center in Kentucky, with 11 more locations set go go live by July.

Like most of Advanced ICU clients, Appalachian Regional serves its patients in a sprawling network of hospitals spread across multiple states. It hopes to benefit from a standardized, enterprise-wide deployment of high-acuity remote monitoring services using the vendors' platform.

The company's intensivists, advanced practice providers, and nurses will connect with ARH clinicians to leverage real-time clinical data and two-way audio-visual capabilities to coordinate care remotely for ICU patients among multidisciplinary teams.

THE LARGER TREND
The deployment of tele-ICU at Appalachian Regional comes as telehealth is gaining ground at providers large and small, urban and rural, nationwide – past the "tipping point," according to the American Telemedicine Association.

It's also a moment where the possibilities of remote monitoring are expanding too, as it evolves from "ad hoc to continuous monitoring of multiple parameters, causing a surge in the amount of unprocessed and unorganized data available to clinicians for decision-making," according to a recent Frost & Sullivan report.

In addition to improving patient care, many hospitals and long-term care facilities are finding cost efficiencies and revenue opportunities. Atlanta-based Kaufmann Clinic, for example, sees telehealth as a path toward boosting revenue by 30 percent.

ON THE RECORD
"Appalachian Regional Healthcare is firmly committed to its mission of improving the health and promoting the well-being of our local population," said Maria Braman, MD, chief medical officer at ARH. "We are excited to collaborate with Advanced ICU Care on this system-wide, 12 hospital tele-ICU implementation, leveraging their team’s extensive clinical expertise."

"We look forward to working closely with their highly skilled, hospital clinical teams and vision-focused leadership to provide an additional model of innovative care delivery for the communities that they serve," said Lou Silverman, CEO of Advanced ICU Care.

Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN
Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com

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