Modernizing Patient Rooms: The Role of Virtual Care and AI
The Future of Healthcare
When you picture the hospital of the future, it’s hard to imagine patient rooms without remote monitoring, virtual observation, and some form of AI as core capabilities. As health systems face continued financial and workforce pressures, that inevitably leads to the question of how to modernize care. The inevitable conclusion is that it must involve patient rooms that are always connected and patient-aware.
Transforming Healthcare Delivery
Fortunately, the integration of virtual care and AI at the bedside is fueling a transformative shift in healthcare delivery that will allow for these types of patient rooms. Audio, video, and sensor-based technologies are unlocking additional clinical insights and engagement avenues for care teams, creating a foundation for innovation. Inpatient care programs like virtual nursing, virtual sitting, and virtual rounding are already helping health systems offset challenges while delivering significant benefits for patients and staff.
Building Blocks for ROI
The challenge lies in navigating the path from today’s reality to widescale implementation among competing priorities and project budgets. This degree of transformation doesn’t happen overnight. As healthcare executives build their roadmap for modernizing care, they want evidence of key value drivers in their IT investments, balancing the cost of scaling implementation against near- and long-term goals. Understanding the economic impact of care programs is crucial for strategic planning and resource allocation.
Key Areas of Impact
Caregility and Sage Growth Partners partnered to examine trends and determine what kind of tool could help health systems support the mass deployment of modern technology in every patient room. Three key areas of impact and one fundamental truth were uncovered.
Fundamental Truth
There’s no silver bullet that provides all the real-dollar ROI that most chief financial officers (CFOs) are looking for. However, there are essential initial steps and building blocks that come together to create a strong foundation of economic value that leads to a bigger financial ROI.
Building Blocks
These building blocks buy back time for staff, enabling them to focus on tasks that are more impactful. This also enables organizations to increase ratios where appropriate, which leads to real-dollar ROI.
Resource Cost Reduction
One of the most compelling drivers of economic impact from virtual acute-care models is the ability to reduce staffing resource costs, particularly in nursing. Virtual nursing offloads a significant portion of the administrative burden that falls on bedside nurses.
Clinical Cost Deferment
Another recurring area of financial impact validated during research is the ability of virtual acute-care programs to help prevent hospital-acquired conditions, which add substantial costs to inpatient care.
Savings from Recouped Bedside Hours
Time is one of the most valuable commodities in healthcare. Virtual acute-care initiatives offer hospitals a way to reclaim bedside hours.
Conclusion
The experience gained from inpatient virtual care programs also lays crucial groundwork for expanding into home-based care models. These future-facing technologies are key to modernizing healthcare delivery and creating more proactive, continuous care models. It’s not just about meeting current operational demands – it’s about elevating what’s possible in healthcare.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the key areas of impact for virtual acute-care models?
A: Resource cost reduction, clinical cost deferment, and savings from recouped bedside hours.
Q: What is the fundamental truth about ROI in virtual care initiatives?
A: There’s no silver bullet that provides all the real-dollar ROI, but there are essential initial steps and building blocks that come together to create a strong foundation of economic value.
Q: What are the benefits of inpatient telehealth programs beyond the bottom line?
A: The ability to retain experienced nurses nearing retirement, improved patient satisfaction, and overwhelming staff satisfaction with on-demand access to remote clinical support at the bedside.
