Lee Health Expands Virtual Nursing Program with Caregility
The Florida-based health system will significantly expand inpatient telehealth to connect hospital patients and staff with remote nurse resources.
Wall, NJ and Fort Myers, FL (Oct 16, 2024) – Lee Health, one of Florida’s largest health systems, is significantly expanding its Virtual Nursing Program with Caregility, a leading enterprise telehealth company.
Through the initiative, Lee Health continues its commitment to modernizing care delivery, enhancing clinical efficiency, and improving patient and staff satisfaction. The latest expansion includes the deployment of Caregility APS200 Duo dual-camera telehealth devices, building on the existing fleet of telehealth wall systems and carts to more than double the health system’s inpatient virtual care footprint. With this expansion, Lee Health’s virtual acute care infrastructure will cover more than half of the health system’s hospital beds, equipping nearly 1,000 patient rooms with bedside telehealth technology.
“The growth of our telehealth options accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic out of necessity to ensure patients received important care safely and we were able to ensure continuous support for our medical teams,” said Rick Schooler, Chief Information Officer of Lee Health. “Through our expansion since then, we’ve evolved our virtual care capabilities to include an award-winning inpatient virtual observation program and now virtual nursing to improve patient outcomes utilizing available, improved technology to help our clinical staff.”
“This expansion is an important part of Lee Health’s broader strategy to modernize healthcare delivery,” said Jennifer Higgins, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer of Lee Health. “Our virtual nursing program introduces innovative possibilities in patient care workflows by connecting the care in the complex patient journey. From admissions and discharges to continuous patient monitoring, patients benefit from an additional team member dedicated to their care. We anticipate this additionally offering our nurses time for patients that need more hands-on care.”
“Having eyes and ears in every room enables remote caregivers to respond more effectively to the needs of patients and bedside staff across the enterprise,” said Wendy Deibert, Chief Nursing Officer at Caregility. “This expansion represents a significant step forward in Lee Health’s digital health strategy, paving the way for future innovation at the intersection of virtual care, bedside care, and AI, and we’re honored to support their mission to advance the art of what’s possible in healthcare delivery.”
As a foundational partner, Caregility has worked closely with Lee Health to create a future-proof solution that supports a broad array of clinical workflows, offers AI capabilities, and can support local edge processing. The Caregility Cloud™ virtual care platform serves as the backbone for all of Lee Health’s virtual care programs.
Lee Health’s investment scales its virtual nursing program, supported by Caregility’s unique remote fleet management tools, which mitigate device support hurdles and improve operations. With around-the-clock monitoring and support, as well as seamless software updates via Caregility’s cloud-based administration portal, Lee Health can ensure that its telehealth devices remain operational with minimal on-site maintenance requirements.
“With our edge-processing, dual-camera APS200 Duo devices that support multiple concurrent workflows, we have built a commercial offering designed to be deployed at scale,” said Ron Gaboury, CEO of Caregility. “Our mission with Lee Health and other customers is to set the foundation for long-term growth and hospital-room-of-the-future innovation. This empowers care teams to maximize virtual care workflows while reducing up-front costs and operational challenges associated with maintaining a device in every room.”
About Lee Health Since the opening of the first hospital in 1916, Lee Health has been a healthcare leader in Southwest Florida, constantly evolving to meet the needs of the community. A non-profit, integrated healthcare services organization, Lee Health is committed to the well-being of every individual served, focused on healthy living and maintaining good health. Healthcare services are conveniently located throughout the community in four acute care hospitals, two specialty hospitals, outpatient centers, walk-in medical centers, primary care and specialty physician practices, and other services across the continuum of care. Learn more at www.LeeHealth.org.
About Caregility Caregility (caregility.com) is a telehealth solution provider connecting care everywhere. Designated as the Best in KLAS® Virtual Care Platform (non-EMR) in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Caregility Cloud™ brings bedside care, virtual encounters, and AI capabilities together at the point of care. Doctors, nurses, and patients around the world rely on our intelligent telehealth edge devices and virtual nursing, observation, and engagement applications to enhance clinical insights, patient safety, and efficiency. Trusted by over 75 health systems, deployed in more than 1,000 hospitals, and supporting over 30,000 connected devices and millions of virtual sessions annually, Caregility is helping transform healthcare delivery across inpatient, outpatient, and home settings.
When Virtual Nursing and AI Collide: Q&A with Mary Washington Healthcare
In our recent webinar When Virtual Nursing + AI Collide: Lessons from the Trenches, Mary Washinton Healthcare’s AVP of Hospital Operations Debra Marinari and Information Systems Analyst Trudy Osborne sat down with Caregility CNO Wendy Deibert to discuss their journey integrating remote nurses and artificial intelligence into inpatient care. Here are some key takeaways and practical strategies shared by our expert panelists.
1. How did you start your virtual nursing journey, and what were the initial challenges?
Mary Washington Healthcare began its virtual nursing journey a little over two years ago to modernize the health system’s approach to patient care. Reflecting on her 30-year nursing career, Marinari noted that many of the processes they used in the past would be considered outdated by today’s standards. She sees Virtual Nursing and AI as natural next steps in the health system’s journey to safer, more efficient patient care. One early challenge was getting experienced nurses to embrace the technology, but once they saw the benefits of improved support during staffing shortages, adoption quickly followed.
2. How is telehealth helping make care teams more agile?
Marinari and Osborne emphasized that telehealth has enhanced their ability to iterate quickly and uncover new opportunities for efficiency gains in nursing workflows. With a centralized Virtual Nursing hub on-site, remote nurses can triage and respond to inbound calls from the bedside, leaning on built-in backup coverage when multiple requests come in simultaneously. Mary Washington has seen improvements in nurse turnover rates and staff retention by implementing Virtual Nursing.
3. What workflows do Virtual Nursing and AI support?
In addition to supporting virtual admissions, discharges, and second signature verifications, virtual nurses also play a crucial role in supporting specialized workflows. For instance, virtual nurses can easily support MRI checklists and help determine the model of medical device (i.e. pacemakers) a patient has before procedures. The integration of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) questionnaires into the virtual admissions process has increased completion rates to 98%, a dramatic improvement from before Virtual Nursing implementation. These workflows help ensure high-quality care and compliance.
4. How do you manage staffing and nurse-to-patient ratios for your Virtual Nursing program?
Mary Washington’s Virtual Nursing team is staffed with three virtual nurses per 12-hour shift, operating 24/7. The full-time roles were hired specifically for Virtual Nursing, with a minimum of two years of direct nursing experience required. Initially, the team was aligned by unit but later pivoted to a triage model that allows remote nurses to handle calls across multiple units as they come in. This flexibility has been key to managing staffing efficiently. The health system opted to add extra staffing support during peak hours when patient activity picks up between 11 am and 11 pm.
5. What platforms and AI tools are integrated with your Virtual Nursing program?
Osborne noted that the organization uses Epic for electronic health records, with virtual nurses leveraging secure chat within Epic to keep care teams connected. Mary Washington is in the process of integrating Critical Alert as their nurse call platform. Additionally, the organization is exploring health AI solutions like computer vision and ambient listening to assist with fall prevention and other early patient interventions. They are also lab-testing devices for contactless patient vital sign monitoring to improve early detection of patient deterioration and health issues.
6. How have Virtual Nursing and AI impacted patient care and staff efficiency?
One benefit of adding a remote nurse component to bedside care teams has been reduced documentation time, which has been a pain point for many nurses. By reassigning routine tasks, bedside nurses can focus more on direct patient care while remote nurses streamline workflows due to fewer interruptions. Although pilot programs are still in the early stages, the healthcare organization is excited about the promise of AI applications in areas like fall prevention and vital sign trending, which can further improve patient safety and nurse satisfaction.
7. Have patients or staff expressed concerns about virtual nursing or AI?
Marinari noted that patient resistance to Virtual Nursing has been minimal, with only one case involving a mental health patient who preferred in-person care. The staff’s attitude toward Virtual Nursing and AI has become increasingly positive, particularly as Mary Washington has fine-tuned its remote support processes over the last year. Marinari and Osborne actively work with nursing staff to continue to iterate and identify new workflows.
8. Are there specific metrics you’re tracking to measure success?
Since implementing Virtual Nursing, nurse satisfaction has improved significantly, and documentation time has decreased, both of which have been major wins for Mary Washington. The organization has also expanded its Virtual Nursing program into the emergency department and is actively tracking metrics related to nurse retention, patient outcomes, and fall rates to assess the program’s ongoing success.
9. What hardware supports your Virtual Nursing and AI implementation?
Dual-camera APS200 telehealth edge devices from Caregility, which include 40x zoom, far-end pan/tilt/zoom video capabilities, and night vision, are deployed in patient rooms to facilitate virtual nurse engagement. Bedside staff can press a vLert button to request remote nurse support. A minimalist, ceiling-mounted radar puck device supports contactless vitals capture. Osborne appreciates that deployment was straightforward, with centralized device management and strong vendor support throughout the process. The organization has also installed anti-ligature devices in the emergency department and is exploring facial scanning technology as a potential tool to support ED triage. The use of advanced hardware continues to evolve as the VN program expands.
10. What’s next for your Virtual Nursing and AI journey?
Looking ahead, Marinari expressed excitement about expanding AI capabilities, particularly in the area of computer vision for fall prevention. While the organization has made strides in reducing fall rates, this remains an area of focus, and they believe AI can further enhance early intervention. Additionally, the team is testing contactless devices that can provide early indicators of patient health trends, which they hope will lead to improved patient outcomes. They are also exploring new use cases in the emergency department and continue to work on integrating AI tools with existing platforms like Epic.
Do you have additional questions about Virtual Nursing and AI? Set up a discovery call to connect with our team of telehealth specialists and customer referral sites.
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Computer Vision AI: A Message from Mike
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Moving Virtual Nursing from Concept to Practical Application
Virtual nursing is moving from concept to real-world implementation as health systems look for new solutions to address workforce challenges and better support patient care.
Together, these issues build a compelling case for adopting virtual nursing. Made possible by the rapid evolution of inpatient telehealth over the past few years, this hybrid care model brings virtual engagement and workflows to bedside care to improve patient safety and buy back time for floor nurses.
Virtual nurses can support many tasks that don’t require hands-on patient care, including virtual admissions and discharges, remote documentation, telerounding, blood and medication verification, virtual observation, patient education, and on-demand coaching and support.
Virtual Nursing’s Impact on Patients, Clinicians, and Health Systems
Virtual clinical workflows can have a tremendous positive impact on patient and clinician experiences.
Patients benefit from improved nurse-to-patient ratios, faster clinical intervention, and a second layer of care team support.
Virtual roles extend the careers of seasoned nurses who might otherwise leave or retire. New nurses gain access to virtual nurse mentors during onboarding and when they need help. And floor nurses can enjoy more focused work with fewer interruptions.
Operationally, virtual nursing can improve efficiency and patient satisfaction. It also offers health systems a more permanent solution for workforce reinforcement, reducing reliance on travel nurses by introducing new recruitment and retention tactics. Telenursing also lays some groundwork for next-generation hospital rooms and home-based acute care models.
Technical Considerations When Implementing Virtual Nursing
Given how new the model is, the challenge for most healthcare teams is knowing where to get started with virtual nursing. A cornerstone of all telenursing programs is the availability of synchronous audio and video at each patient’s bedside, using either mounted or mobile telehealth endpoints.
Subscription-based, pay-as-you-go service models can help reduce upfront installation costs. To maximize resources and manage solution sprawl, look to centralize siloed telehealth programs onto platform solutions that are integrated with the electronic health record (EHR) system and flexible enough to work with innovative digital health devices entering the market.
As you formulate a program strategy, identify clinical and technical needs first. Conduct a network assessment to make sure infrastructure is optimized to support concurrent virtual sessions. Are there coverage gaps in Wi-Fi that need to be addressed before implementation? Be mindful of standard security protocols that can disrupt virtual care.
Once you know which clinical processes you’ll be transitioning to a hybrid model, consider the telehealth capabilities you’ll need to support your workflows. Do you need advanced zoom functionality to read medications and IV bags remotely? Will virtual nurses need night vision to access dimly lit patient rooms? Is there a bedside button nurses and patients can use to bring in the virtual nurse?
Beyond the EHR, identify which peripherals will apply to your use cases. As programs evolve to include more advanced workflows, you may consider adding remote physical assessment devices, such as digital stethoscopes.
Clinical decision support integration can allow virtual nurses to bring patient stratification into telenursing workflows. Translation services should also be part of your virtual engagement strategy to meet language access requirements and ensure that health equity is baked into your program.
Driving Care Model Innovation with Virtual Nursing
Telehealth and virtual care solutions are redefining care, and the healthcare industry is just scratching the surface of what’s possible with virtual nursing. By taking a strategic approach to implementation, health systems can build telenursing programs that support patient and clinician well-being and add a secondary line of defense to patient care.
About the Author: Wendy Deibert is Chief Nursing Officer atCaregility. She has 34 years of experience as a bedside critical care nurse and telehealth consultant, launching hundreds of virtual care programs nationwide. This article originally appeared in HealthTech Magazine.
Virtual Care + Advanced Analytics to Stratify Risk
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