Baltimore-based LifeBridge Health has opened a virtual hospital at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, according to a July 19 news release.
The virtual hospital is run by emergency medicine physician Jonathan Thierman, MD, who also serves as the chief medical information officer of LifeBridge Health's virtual hospital.
LifeBridge Health designed the virtual hospital to combine the use of a clinical command center, telemedicine services and international clinical call centers.
The clinical command center is staffed with a multidisciplinary team that monitors the flow of patients in and out of Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. Staff watch digital screens that include real time-data in order to track the number of patients coming into the hospital and patients being discharged.
"With telemedicine our providers are set up in a designated room, have a video session up on one screen, a patient's EMR up on another, and can talk directly to the patient on screen to assess their condition," Dr. Thierman said. "The providers are quite active. Currently we are seeing over 1,000 cases per month."
At the international Clinical Operations Call Centers, staff provide telephone support to patients who have questions and follow-up calls. The call center can also assist with prescription refill requests, scheduling follow-up appointments and transportation.