by Mike Brandofino, President and COO, Caregility
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 invariably 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.
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.
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.
To better understand the critical areas where healthcare organizations see return on investment (ROI) in technology-assisted clinical workflow optimization, 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.
Caregility and Sage conducted in-depth interviews with leading health systems across the U.S. to identify where healthcare organizations are realizing ROI from inpatient virtual care initiatives. Three key areas of impact and one fundamental truth were uncovered. The fundamental truth is that 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.
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.
The three areas of impact are:
1. 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. By shifting tasks like admissions and discharges to virtual nurses, organizations are freeing up bedside nurses to field higher-value tasks. This recouped time reduces costs associated with incidental overtime for bedside nurses.
With the tools to redistribute clinical tasks in place, hospitals can optimize their workforce to reduce reliance on costly temporary staffing or agency nurses. Nurses report improved job satisfaction due to the collaborative care approach, leading to reduced turnover and recruitment costs. With average turnover costs per nurse totaling roughly $56,280, reducing turnover by just 10% can bring significant savings.
Telehealth-enabled acute care also allows health systems to extend the reach of physician specialists to satellite locations instead of hiring dedicated staff at sites with low utilization. Virtual engagement reduces the “windshield time” lost during commutes between locations.
2. 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. Health systems reported reductions in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), pressure injuries and patient falls. These improvements are attributed to enhanced monitoring capabilities and greater adherence to clinical best practices made possible by the focused support of virtual clinicians.
Preventing these conditions reduces costs, shortens hospital stays and improves patient satisfaction and throughput. Hospitals can also avoid readmissions and associated costs by using virtual bedside engagement to enhance the discharge processes and ensure patients leave the hospital with better education and support.
Although this research initiative looked at acute virtual care’s impact on intervention in patient falls, CAUTI, CLABSI and pressure injuries specifically, additional patient outcomes stand to benefit from similar targeted clinical quality improvement efforts.
3. 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. Virtual nursing task redistribution allows bedside nurses to focus on direct patient care, working at the top of their license rather than being bogged down by administrative duties.
Hospitals report saving up to 25% of the time bedside nurses typically spend on documentation by fielding admissions virtually. Virtual discharges save bedside nurses up to 67% of the time typically spent on discharge paperwork. For the average hospital, this cumulative time savings translates to the equivalent of multiple full-time nursing employees.
While the economic impacts are compelling, the benefits of inpatient telehealth programs extend far beyond the bottom line. These initiatives create a ripple effect of positive outcomes that touch every aspect of healthcare delivery. Executives observed virtual acute-care wins that are harder to quantify financially, including the ability to retain experienced nurses nearing retirement by redeploying them to virtual roles. In addition, they reported seeing a 20% spike in patient satisfaction reflected in HCAHPS scores due to the uninterrupted nature of virtual interaction, as well as overwhelming staff satisfaction with on-demand access to remote clinical support at the bedside.
There is common consensus on the broad applicability of video-based engagement and AI-assisted monitoring at every bedside. The downstream effects on patient capacity and throughput and the implications for revised ratios built with cross-collaborative care teams in mind make a compelling case for continued expansion. 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. As care continues to evolve, organizations that have embraced virtual engagement and AI at the bedside will have the infrastructure and experience necessary to seamlessly incorporate new technologies and care models, ensuring they remain at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
This article was first published in Healthcare IT News.