Background: Geriatric and palliative care patients who have been discharged from hospital and are home-limited face challenges in effectively accessing ongoing healthcare and clinical follow-up after being discharged, leaving them at risk for unnecessary re-hospitalization. Health care video visits present a novel opportunity to expand patient access to clinical care remotely in their home, potentially [...]

Background: With the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the need for telemedicine is growing rapidly worldwide. The development and improvement of remote physical examination systems, especially remote cardiopulmonary auscultation are required to facilitate telemedicine. A system combining an electronic stethoscope and Bluetooth connectivity is a promising option for remote auscultation in hospitals and clinics. However, the [...]

Background: Dedicated hospitalists are associated with improvements in healthcare quality and patient outcomes, but are not feasible for small-volume critical access hospitals (CAHs). A telemedicine “virtual hospitalist” model may expand the capabilities of a CAH at a fraction of the cost of an on-site provider. Purpose: Our purpose was to provide hospitalist coverage to remote [...]

Background: Hospital readmission reduction has gained greater awareness since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and within it the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP). Policy makers sought to improve quality of care by increasing reporting transparency and imposing financial penalties on facilities for excessive readmission rates. Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH) remains committed to reducing hospital readmissions and in doing [...]

Background: The patient-physician relationship is influenced by several factors including the environment of care. Given the increased use of telemedicine – catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic – understanding preferences for and comfort with telemedicine is important. This study aimed to explore patient preferences for various types of video visit background environments and their effects on [...]

Background: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are common during transitions from the hospital to the ambulatory setting, with approximately 20% of patients experiencing an ADE within 30 days of discharge. ADEs are often due to patient misunderstanding of the prescribed medication regimen or non-adherence to the regimen.  New approaches are needed to address this problem. Purpose: [...]

Background: Patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) are a nationwide concern. They have significant morbidity, mortality & for several reasons, such as comorbid psychiatric conditions, medication noncompliance, low income or poor access to healthcare services, have an increased risk of hospital readmissions. Processes aimed at reducing readmission rates in this population are important for improving [...]

Background: During COVID-19, students, residents and their programs find themselves in a unique situation. Balancing the educational needs of a training program with the safety of trainees is a challenging task, specifically when taking care of patients who are COVID-19 positive or patients under investigation. Purpose: One increasingly available tool that can help protect trainees, [...]

Background: Hospital at home is a novel healthcare delivery model offering acute inpatient care outside hospital walls. In the United States, hospital at home programs are almost exclusively offered in urban settings. Many rural regions of the United States have difficulty with adequate healthcare access, and there is little data on rural hospital at home [...]

Background: Current staffing models cannot deliver the benefits of hospital medicine to the 1300 critical access hospitals (CAHs) located throughout the rural United States.   Staffing each CAH with local hospitalists would require at least 5500 hospitalists (more than 10% of the workforce), to cover less than 2% of the hospitalized population.   A “virtual hospitalist” program [...]