Transferring patients from one hospital to another sounds simple. In today’s health care environment, however, with provider shortages and more patients with complex physical and behavioral needs, transferring patients can be a lengthy process, creating delays in accessing needed specialty care.
A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described hospitals’ challenges with transferring patients amid provider shortages that afflict both transferring and receiving hospitals. One hospital said it accepted more than 7,600 transfer requests in just over a year — but turned down more than 9,900 due to limited capacity.
How Telemedicine Helps Reduce Patient Transfers
With Access TeleCare, hospitals of any size can reduce their need to transfer complex, high-acuity patients because they have access to specialists in any number of fields from cardiology and critical care to infectious disease and neurology who can quickly deliver and coordinate specialty care at the home hospital.
“Having 24/7 access to specialists who can guide on-site teams through treatment plans and deliver excellent patient care is a lifeline for patients and for hospitals,” said Access TeleCare president/CEO Chris Gallagher, M.D. “Patients shouldn’t have to suffer while waiting to receive specialty care.”
Access TeleCare offers uninterrupted access to experienced specialists who deliver and manage care alongside on-site teams as part of fully integrated telemedicine programs, allowing virtually any hospital or clinic to reduce transfers.
By augmenting hospitals’ ability to care for clinically complex patients through telemedicine, patients get the care they need more quickly and closer to home.
Contact us to learn more about Access TeleCare’s telemedicine programs.
