Intermountain Healthcare Launches Pediatric Telehealth Services

Intermountain Healthcare has added pediatric telehealth services, allowing for 24/7 video consult communication between the Primary Children’s Hospital emergency department (ED) and ED physicians systemwide.

With headquarters in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare is a nonprofit system comprising 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, and about 3,800 employees.

The telehealth service added by Intermountain healthcare targets pediatric patients, aiming to expand access to care for this population. It enables ED providers across Intermountain to communicate virtually with clinicians in the Primary Children’s Hospital ED. Through virtually enabled care, Intermountain aims to provide patients with the ability to remain in their home communities and eliminate transfers to Primary Children’s Hospital as much as possible. 

“We’ve found that about 80 percent of pediatric emergency, trauma and ICU patients who’ve been transferred to Primary Children’s are discharged within 24 hours. During a six-month trial period of this new telehealth pediatric service, about half of those pediatric emergency patients are now able to safely stay in their local communities,” said Katrina Jensen, a pediatric nurse with Intermountain Healthcare, in a press release.

In general, patients will often enter the emergency department only to be transferred to the pediatric hospital. The new telehealth service, however, will allow providers in the ED to consult with clinicians at Primary Children’s Hospital via telehealth to determine the appropriate treatment for a patient.

For example, if a child were to fall and experience symptoms such as vomiting, the doctor they visit could review their CT images and, if necessary, communicate with providers from Primary Children’s, who can also review the scans and evaluate the child via video. Together they can decide the best course of action for the patient.

“They’re either treated and sent home or admitted to their local hospital or a closer hospital, avoiding unnecessary transfers far from home. This is a huge benefit to patients and their families, as well as providers at emergency departments,” continued Jensen.

As telehealth use remains popular, recent research has shown that pediatrics has benefitted highly from its implementation.

A study published in September found that pediatric patients with neurological conditions used telehealth to a great extent. Researchers determined that following the elimination of in-person care restrictions as the pandemic became less severe, a large portion of the pediatric neurology population continued to choose telehealth.

In August, the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans announced plans to work with Cleveland Clinic to use telehealth to improve access to pediatric radiology. Through the collaboration, the organizations aim to expand access to services and keep up with the high patient demand at the pediatric medical center.

Further, experts that spoke with mHealthIntelligence in June noted that despite some challenges, using telehealth to assist pediatric patients with genetic conditions is possible. After considering various factors, researchers found limited differences in the molecular diagnosis rate for genetic conditions when comparing in-person and virtual care data. However, they also found that those who participated in telehealth were more likely to be White and English speaking.