Emergency Services

Tele-emergency medicine connects providers at a central hub emergency department to providers and patients at spoke hospitals (often small, remote, or rural), remote or mobile locations through our telehealth technology.

Tele-emergency typically involves a provider at a spoke hospital connecting with a provider at a hub hospital. The spoke provider interacts with patients, manages the video technology, shares vitals, and executes hands-on procedures. The hub provider may consult on a diagnosis, provide a second opinion, or guide the spoke provider through a complicated procedure.

Types of telehealth for emergency departments

Tele-triage

Tele-triage is like traditional triage but uses technology to supplement or replace elements of the patient interaction. Tele-triage involves screening patients remotely to determine the patient's condition and the care needed.

Benefits of tele-triage services:

  • Reduces overcrowding in the emergency department.
  • Reduces wait times and bottlenecks by processing patients more quickly.
  • Provides rapid care to low-risk patient populations with low-risk health conditions.
  • Reduces the number of patients who leave the emergency department without being treated.
  • Supports patients in nursing homes, home health, and homeless shelters by providing a direct link to the emergency department to help decide if or when a patient needs to be transferred.

Tele-emergency care

Tele-emergency medicine connects providers at a central hub emergency department to providers and patients at spoke hospitals (often small, remote, or rural) through video or similar telehealth technology.

Benefits of tele-emergency services:

  • Provide expert care for patients.
  • Build confidence by ensuring patients get the best care.
  • Deliver care closer to patients homes.
  • Expand capabilities of the spoke hospital through access to providers with a wider range of experience.
  • Initiate care faster by not having to wait for specialists to arrive or patients to be transferred.
  • Keep small hospitals in business.

Virtual rounds

Telehealth technology can be used by health care providers to check on emergency department patients virtually. This helps limit the number of providers who are physically present and exposed to contagious diseases. It also saves time and conserves personal protective equipment.

Benefits of doing virtual rounds:

  • Ability to include the patient’s family if they can’t be there in-person
  • Providing care from multiple specialists during a single exam if needed
  • Opportunity to expand participation to pharmacists, care coordinators, students, and other staff to help with documentation
  • Preserve limited personal protective equipment
  • Build trust between patient and provider because it can allow patients to see their provider’s face
  • Allow providers who are in self-isolation to continue to provide care

E-consults

Providers can use e-consults in the emergency department to get recommendations for complicated conditions from providers in other locations with additional expertise, for example in specialty areas like acute care for stroke, trauma, ICU, or behavioral health.

Benefits of doing e-consults:

  • Increase care coordination
  • Increase access to high-quality, specialty care
  • Accelerate consultation response time
  • Reduce the need for unnecessary referrals
  • Increase provider knowledge by learning from specialty experts

Telehealth for follow-up care

Telehealth technology can also be used to provide follow-up care for patients who were triaged but not sent to the emergency department, or for patients after they are discharged from the emergency department.

Benefits of using telehealth for follow-up care:

  • Provides an opportunity to further engage with the patient to perform more assessments, talk to family members, ensure they understand their follow-up instructions about medications, and encourage them to schedule any referral appointments
  • Provides additional care to patients who need observation but aren’t so sick that they need constant care
  • Detects potential problems and treats them before they warrant a return visit to the emergency room
  • Provides emotional support, especially for patients in isolation
  • Provides a training opportunity for resident physicians
  • Reduces hospital costs associated with unnecessary readmissions and CMS penalties for readmission for certain conditions