When facilities experience physician shortages this has a tremendous impact on hospitals and patients. Rural hospitals find it difficult to staff hospitals so the use of tele-hospitalists especially at night is one solution.
Tele-hospitalists serve rural facilities in a variety of ways. They can assist with overnight admissions, and cross coverage duties, facilitate dissemination of best practices across hospitals, and provide training opportunities for local providers.
Different sized medical centers implement tele-hospitalist programs in different ways. Smaller hospitals use the program to provide primary staffing, while larger hospitals are more interested in using tele-hospitalists in a consulting and supportive role to help onsite physicians.
The system works by having the local provider assist with the physical exam, urgent patient care issues, and care coordination. The local provider then collaborates with the tele-hospitalist who manages complex acute medical issues, and also participates in daily rounds and establishes care plans.
As recently announced, in Oneida Tennessee, the Big South Fork Medical Center https://bsfmedical.com, has contracted with a multispecialty telemedicine physicians group to bring tele-hospitalists to the hospital. Access Physicians https://accessphysicians.com, a division of SOC Telemed, is going to provide the hospital with 24/7, 365 days a year tele-hospitalist coverage.
The Medical Center will be able to connect a patient with an Access Physician certified tele-hospitalist by using secure high resolution technology. On site nurses and other physicians will be able to consult with tele-hospitalists to diagnose and treat patients with any number of complex conditions.