ICU coverage enables rural hospitals to safely keep and successfully treat many critical care patients. Patients can remain at their local facility, receiving quality care. It’s better for the patient, better for their families, better for the community, and better for the financial health of the hospital.
Due to ongoing financial challenges and limited availability of intensivists, hospitals are turning to telemedicine as a way to maximize resources and improve quality of care in the ICU. By using a telemedicine platform at the hospital a remote physician can treat patients at multiple facilities via technology and the internet. Telemedicine enables remote physicians to literally ‘be’ at the patient bedside and proactively respond to patient care needs just as they would if they were physically at the hospital.
ICU care is in OffSite Care’s corporate DNA. Our Medical Director and Founder, Dr. James K. Gude, is a board-certified intensivist with extensive clinical experience. A Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, Dr. Gude is also a founder of Bay Area Intensivists, a distinguished medical group with over 25 members. Drawing from these resources, OffSite Care provides a complete range of service offerings designed to deliver virtual critical care coverage. Coverage can be provided for nighttime or daytime shifts, and in selected facilities per-click (per consultation) coverage is also available. The proven techniques developed by OffSite Care are used to support this program, with the potential substitution of critical care advanced practice nurses/providers (APN/APP) to handle higher-acuity cases.
Instead of being limited to “stabilize-and-ship,” OSC models of ICU care – Round and Respond, consults only, or full unit coverage – allows client hospitals to safely keep and successfully treat many critical care patients. And as the acuity of care increases, the profitability of the hospital increases as well. Patients can remain at their local facility, receiving quality care. It’s better for the patient, better for their families, better for the community, and better for the financial health of the hospital.