Hospital in the home: tracking the rise of the virtual hospital

Settling into ‘COVID-normal’ has meant different things to different people, but one thing has been consistent - a new mindset around remote working and services. Office workers once tied to a desk can now confidently work from home or from anywhere, avoiding the commute and freeing up more time for family. These same workers are now beginning to move away from big cities in search of a slower pace of life. 

If this attitude persists, we could see a huge change in the way our cities are built and run day-to-day. With less dependence on urban living, and a more dispersed population, our healthcare services will need to adapt to keep up. And even if people do stay close to big cities, pandemics such as COVID-19 have reinforced the fact that we need to be able to deliver care outside of the typical healthcare environment.

There are some amazing initiatives allowing hospital-quality care in the comfort of a patient’s home. Let’s look at how telehealth and remote patient monitoring have become a great option for hospitals, healthcare providers, and patients.

Virtual hospitals in Australia

COVID-19 may have accelerated the shift to telehealth and virtual hospitals, but they were in development long before the pandemic. 

Governments have been exploring the possibilities of telehealth for years - but now that the technology has passed a number of huge stress tests, we hope investment in telehealth increases.

Australia’s first virtual hospital, RPA Virtual, was initially launched in February to care for cystic fibrosis and palliative care patients. When the pandemic escalated, the hospital pivoted to look after COVID-19 patients.

Earlier this year the New England Virtual Hospital's Joint Virtual Care Centre (JVCC) was unveiled  in Armidale, allowing patients to access care without travelling long distances to a major hospital. The trial was fast-tracked to allow the centre to get up and running to help COVID-19 patients.

The features virtual hospitals need

One of the main challenges of running virtual hospitals and hospital-in-the-home care is to accurately, reliably and securely manage all of the communications and data flows that are generated when looking after high-care patients.

There is often lots of granular detail involved with multiple providers and care organisations handling the data, plus the patient's family members supporting them at home.

For the patient - who may have had an operation and wants to recuperate at home, or may have an ongoing condition that needs continuous care but they live remotely - consistency of care is key, and that means consistency of data and a platform that seamlessly integrates with the many systems and processes involved.

How CareMonitor is helping run hospital-in-the-home care

The CareMonitor platform has been designed to evolve healthcare while still keeping the fundamental principles of care intact.

CareMonitor integrates seamlessly with a range of clinical management systems, coordinating complex clinical pathways, care planning, medication management and patient engagement.

Here are the features we think will be crucial to successful telehealth in 2021 and beyond.

Multidisciplinary Shared Care Planning and Management

CareMonitor enables integrated care coordination of patients by members of multidisciplinary care teams through the provision of a range of tools to securely collaborate, communicate, monitor and manage patient health. It allows different healthcare providers to communicate efficiently and accurately from multiple locations without being in the same room as the patient (or each other).

Population Health Management Dashboard & Reporting

CareMonitor’s population health management dashboard provides real-time insights to monitor patient outcomes, identify and address care gaps within the patient population and improve health outcomes. The dashboard is available within the platform showing all key biometric data for the person. This allows the doctor in charge to have a bird’s eye view of the patient’s status.

Realtime Remote Health Monitoring

CareMonitor integrates seamlessly with a range of health devices, such as blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters and glucometers. Data automatically synchronises from compatible bluetooth enabled devices, so if something goes wrong, the healthcare team can know about it instantly.

Want to see CareMonitor in action? Request a demo and get hands-on today.