Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital has partnered with Charlotte-based telemedicine company TeleHealth Solution to provide area patients with TeleHospitalist coverage 24/7 for immediate medical care. With a nurse assisting, an on-screen physician will conduct a virtual, face-to-face examination with a TeleMedicine cart and continue to manage that patient during their stay. In the vast majority of interventions, the partnership allows patients to be appropriately managed at Cannon, avoiding a transfer to a larger, farther hospital.
“It’s a win-win: everyone benefits,” says Jason Perlman, MD, a founder of TeleHealth Solution.
“With our TeleMedicine service, rural folks receive great care in a timely manner, patients find it convenient and less expensive to remain local and close to their families, and the hospital earns more money so they can keep their doors open.”
Cannon Memorial Hospital President Carmen Lacey says, “We’re keeping patients we would have historically transferred, so this partnership is a very positive thing for us and our community.” She reports the numbers of hospital transfer rates have dropped to 8 percent since Cannon hired TeleHealth Solution in October 2016.
“Our technology gives us as thorough a medical evaluation as if we were there in person,” Perlman says. TeleHealth Solution’s TeleMedicine carts are equipped with ECG leads, stethoscopes, otoscopes, aspirators, blood pressure monitors, pulse monitors, and medical records. “When physicians can see everything digitally, patients can be managed locally,” notes Perlman.
The National Rural Health Association has chosen TeleHealth Solution as a partner in their efforts to protect access to healthcare in rural areas. Lacey was so impressed with the night-time service and cost savings that she expanded the contract to also include days so the hospital could offer 24/7 TeleHospitalist coverage. Lacey says, “Our local physicians are thrilled with the quality and patients are just so very thankful to get that level of compassion and dedication to care from the TeleHealth doctors.”
Lacey goes on to explain, “I think the need for TeleHealth will increase as we go through time and we will be able to offer enhanced services because of our proactive embrace of telemedicine. It’s a growing field and is going to become increasingly necessary for rural hospitals.” Cannon’s all-day, every day TeleHealth partnership was launched Aug. 28, 2017.
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About TeleHealth Solution
TeleHealth Solution is a Charlotte-based, physician-owned TeleMedicine group offering custom, turnkey plans for equipping facilities with skilled TeleHospitalists and cutting-edge TeleMedicine carts that work with basic Wi-Fi. TeleHealth provides virtual, face-to-face care for patients in skilled nursing facilities, rural and critical access hospitals, and more.
For more information, visit www.telehealthsolution.com
About Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital
Charles A. Cannon Memorial Hospital is a 25-bed acute care hospital with a 10-bed inpatient behavioral health unit in Linville, NC. Part of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, Cannon was built in 1999 and designated as a Critical Access Hospital in December 2005. Cannon is fully accredited by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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