Physician staffing shortages are serious, with rural hospitals in particular having a difficult time keeping enough doctors onsite. SCP Health, a telemedicine and hospital-at-home provider organization that offers virtual hospitalists, recently hit one million virtual hospital medicine visits, the company reported. Dozens of hospitals are using this model through SCP as part of their day-to-day operations.
Virtual hospitalists take on the full spectrum of inpatient duties, with the exception of the physically hands-on procedures like central venous catheter placement or endotracheal intubation, Virtual hospitalists admit patients, respond to emergency department consults, round on the floors, write discharge plans, and participate in rapid responses and code events. This model signals that inpatient care is becoming more team-based and less bound by physical proximity.
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