A 205-bed hospital in Idaho relied on one local infectious disease physician to support inpatient consults, outpatient care, nights, weekends, and calls from clinicians throughout the surrounding area. The workload was becoming unsustainable, and hospital leaders were concerned about losing a physician who was essential to local specialty care.
Access TeleCare implemented a weekday teleInfectious Disease consult service for hospitalized patients. The telemedicine team evaluates new consults, follows patients daily, reviews laboratory results and antibiotic therapy, and integrates with on-site teams. A structured handoff workflow connects patients who need follow-up with the local infectious disease physician after discharge.
More than 18 months after implementation, the hospital has expanded inpatient infectious disease access, improved the consistency and timeliness of follow-up care, and reduced average length of stay by two days. The local physician can now focus on outpatient care, and clinic volume has increased.
