Many health systems with virtual nursing programs say these remote care models have strong ROI — but few share specific wins and results.
Bedside nurses have shared mixed reviews on virtual nursing. Between December 2023 and March 2024, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia surveyed nearly 900 hospital nurses across 10 states about virtual nursing’s effect on workloads and patient care.
Fifty-seven percent of surveyed nurses said working with virtual nurses did not reduce their workload, while 53% said care quality improved. The researchers said hospital virtual nursing programs are unlikely to meaningfully improve workload or care quality without sufficient bedside staffing and clearly defined roles.
As health system and hospital leaders evaluate and scale virtual nursing programs, 10 systems shared 23 statistics tied to these models with Becker’s in 2025.
Advocate Health (Charlotte, N.C.): Advocate Health, a 69-hospital system covering six states, employs virtual nurses to remotely handle admissions, discharges and transfers. Another model at the system has virtual nurses manage up to 12 patients in tandem with bedside nurses, who might have five or six patients a day.
In 2024, Advocate Health saved more than 43,000 hours across 25 hospitals with virtual nursing. Patient experience scores increased by as much as 80% across units and a reduced nursing turnover rate saved $6.3 million in cost avoidance.
Chief Nurse Executive Betty Jo Rocchio, DNP, RN, told Becker’s that Advocate estimates its virtual nursing program has saved nurses more than 72,000 hours as of September.
Laura Rashleger, MSN, RN, vice president of enterprise nursing operations and virtual nursing at Advocate Health, said the program helped reduce the number of patient falls by nearly 200,000 between January and August.
Akron (Ohio) Children’s Hospital: As of February, virtual nurses completed nearly 11,000 tasks — including 3,200 discharges, 2,200 admissions and 4,700 roundings — and monitored patients for 36,000 hours. Across five units and 125 beds, these on-site virtual nurses at Akron Children’s Hospital have saved bedside nurses 2,000 hours.
Essentia Health (Duluth, Minn.): In January 2024, the system rolled out virtual nursing support for admissions and discharges across its enterprise. As of March, six virtual nurses covered 22 units, and in one year, they completed nearly 5,000 remote admissions and discharges, saving bedside nurses more than 2,100 hours.
HealthPartners (Bloomington, Minn.): The eight-hospital system launched a home-based rapid response program in March. As of Dec. 11, HealthPartners has handled 235 rapid responses through the program, which aims to reduce avoidable emergency department visits and hospital admissions. The initiative primarily focuses on home-care patients with new or worsening symptoms and recently discharged patients who receive coordinated follow-up care at home.
The system’s nurse line can escalate patients to a virtualist for real-time evaluation and, if necessary, prompt a same-day clinician dispatch to the patient’s home. Of the 235 rapid responses, 89% of the patients received at-home care and thus avoided an unnecessary ED visit or admission.
Henry Ford Health (Detroit): During a yearlong pilot at Henry Ford Jackson (Mich.) Hospital, the average virtual nurse completed more than 5,000 tasks and saved bedside staff more than 100 hours per month.
From a 24/7 command center, virtual nurses assist with chart reviews, patient education and discharges. During the pilot, Jackson Hospital’s communication and “likelihood to recommend” scores each increased about four percentage points.
Ochsner Health (New Orleans): Virtual nurses work with bedside nurses to cover 615 beds across 14 hospitals and 19 units, according to Chief Nursing Officer Tiffany Murdock, PhD, MSN. The program, which launched about three years ago, has streamlined more than 22,500 discharges — accounting for more than 90% home discharges — and decreased readmissions in participating units by 2%.
Since expanding the program in 2024, Ochsner Health has saved about 7,500 bedside hours, Dr. Murdock said.
Piedmont Healthcare (Atlanta): Since rolling out in September 2024, the system’s virtual nursing program has saved 84,460 hours spent on discharge, according to Denise Ray, BSN, RN, chief nursing executive at Piedmont.
Ms. Ray told Becker’s 85% of nurses report loving the program, and 78% say it makes them more likely to stay at Piedmont.
UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.): Inside a 4,000-square-foot virtual care center, three to four nurses at a time help monitor about 22,000 med-surg and step-down hospital beds across 14 hospitals. With the help of AI in the Epic EHR, these virtual nurses look for signs of sepsis or deterioration.
After implementing the AI to detect sepsis, virtual nurses are catching the condition two to four hours earlier than before — which can reduce sepsis mortality by at least 30%.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston): Between September 2024 and April 2025, virtual nurses at MD Anderson conducted 12,441 patient visits, according to Lavonia Thomas, DNP, RN, nursing informatics officer.
The virtual nursing program works to offload standardized tasks, including admission and discharge data entry, from the bedside nurse to the virtual nurse. Among the 12,441 visits aided by virtual nurses, Dr. Thomas said the system saved bedside nurses 2,247 hours in administrative or lower-level tasks.
WellSpan Health (York, Pa.): Virtual nursing technology has helped WellSpan reduce patient falls by 23% and saved nurses two hours per shift, enabling bedside nurses to spend more time on in-person care. Overall, virtual nurses saved bedside nurses 4,300 hours across eight hospitals, and one WellSpan hospital reported an 8% decrease in nurse turnover.
