Allegheny Health Network (AHN), an integrated healthcare delivery system serving greater Western Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health, a health insurance provider, recently launched the TeleICU program, a virtual intensive care solution.
The program connects a team of AHN board-certified critical care physicians, nurses and data assistants with bedside hospitalists and nurses in intensive care units. This will allow for around-the-clock monitoring and management of critically ill patients at six of the network’s hospitals.
The TeleICU command center is located near AHN Allegheny General Hospital. Other AHN virtual care programs are hosted at the facility.
“The extra layer of care afforded by our virtual ICU model has provided clinicians across AHN with unprecedented support in the management of critically ill patients, while also enabling patients to more comfortably stay at hospitals closer to home,” Dr. Tariq Cheema, AHN division chief of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy medicine, said. “With the launch of TeleICU, we are pleased to transition our virtual ICU service fully in-house, extending the expertise of our own intensivists across the network and further enhancing the quality of care that we provide.”
The six hospitals are Allegheny Valley Hospital, Canonsburg Hospital, Grove City Hospital, Jefferson Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital and Wexford Hospital.