IN Health System Adds Virtual Care Initiatives to Expand Offerings

Parkview Health plans to add various virtual care initiatives to its digital care center to support sepsis detection and fall prevention.

Serving the regions of northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio, Parkview Health is a nonprofit, community-based health system with over 14,000 employees.

Earlier this week, Parkview Health announced plans for expanding virtual offerings within the Parkview Digital Care Center. The center is already home to the health system's Virtual Health department, which offers digital outpatient care options such as the Parkview OnDemand program.

The health system now intends to add a Virtual Care department to the center, which will consist of nurses and virtual care technicians who provide consistent remote clinical support for all those residing in Parkview hospitals.

The virtual care nurses are trained to perform evaluations of patient data from inpatients across the system. Initially, the nurses will focus on sepsis detection using the data. If necessary, they will inform bedside nurses and physicians of the need to begin sepsis intervention care.

Meanwhile, the virtual care technicians are trained to conduct virtual sitting, that is, continuous video monitoring of those at risk of falling. This will allow them to intervene using microphones when patients are at risk of falling and notify on-site staff when needed.

“The Virtual Care department serves as yet another example of how Parkview is committed to enhancing the patient experience and care environments, while controlling the costs associated with care,” said Michelle Charles, chief nursing informatics officer at Parkview Health, in a press release. “The addition of virtual nurses and virtual care technicians allows our bedside staff to focus more exclusively on each patient’s needs. This team will maximize our resources and effectively monitor multiple inpatients to address their needs more quickly.”

Following these efforts, Parkview intends to expand the ways virtual care nurses can help augment bedside care, including through patient education.

“The Digital Care Center is part of Parkview’s commitment to using technology that creates a more efficient and effective model of care,” said Max Maile, senior vice president of digital health, at Parkview Health, in the press release. “We are excited to implement services that will enhance hospital care and look forward to seeing the additional ways we can use virtual health to deliver excellent care to every person in our region.”

Provider efforts to implement virtual care initiatives have grown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October, a collaboration between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Amedisys, and Contessa was announced, which aims to create a suite of comprehensive care-at-home services that includes various types of care, including recovery and rehabilitation. These services will leverage virtual care modalities to provide care in patients' homes. 

Another effort announced in October by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania involved creating a virtual program to improve access to fertility care. An assessment of the program shows that it lessened wait times and increased the number of patients who gained access to fertility treatments.