05/02/11 -- St. Joseph Health System (SJHS), a $4.6 billion Catholic healthcare organization, has partnered with Emerge.MD to deliver one of the industries' first workflow aware telehealth solutions enabling providers to deliver remote care from any internet enabled device. St. Joseph Health System plans to utilize Emerge.MD's OnePlace virtual clinic to support of its telehealth pilot project as well as to expand into other remote care services such as in-home, mobile, urgent, on call and specialty care services.
"We are very excited to enter into this relationship with Emerge.MD, which will extend our ability to deliver high quality healthcare to the communities we serve, with particular attention to addressing the needs of the underserved and vulnerable populations," states Elliot Sternberg, M.D., Executive Vice President of Wellness and Health Improvement at St. Joseph Health System.
This interactive solution will enable patients and physicians in distinct locations to seamlessly participate in virtual visits by automating existing workflows into a virtual environment making it so that everyone can easily participate in the care cycle. Under this agreement, St. Joseph Health System will use Emerge.MD's OnePlace virtual clinic as the workflow environment in support of both physical modular units such as its telepresence kiosks as well as mobile carts, tablets and desktop PCs using traditional web cameras.
The project will be rolled out in the next several months in various Southern California locations including physician and patient sites, commencing with in home visits as well as enabling a telestroke program between St. Mary's, one of St. Joseph's rural hospitals and Mission Hospital where they offer a neurology center of excellence.
"Access to critical care services is a challenge in rural communities such as ours. The OnePlace virtual clinic allows us to continue to extend the reach of our hospitals by connecting specialists from across our system to the bedside in our emergency department and critical care units," states Dr. James Kyle, Vice President Medical Affairs St. Mary's Medical Center.
This partnership is part of SJHS ongoing efforts to leverage technology in support of SJHS's Healthiest Communities Initiative in which standardized care can be delivered across the system insuring that the needs of patients who experience financial, social, and geographic limitations in particular experience no barriers to accessing care and receiving the best outcomes.
"Emerge.MD is a great complement to our existing best practices and will help us continue to deliver a continuum of care that is secure, reliable and accessible," states Dr. Sternberg.
Emerge.MD will showcase its complete suite of workflow aware telehealth solutions at the American Telemedicine Association annual meeting in Tampa, FL on May 1 - 3, 2011. Demonstration can be seen inside of Emerge.MD's strategic partner Cisco's booth #617.
About St. Joseph Health System
The St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) is a $4.6 billion integrated Catholic healthcare delivery system sponsored by the St. Joseph Health Ministry. We provide a full range of care facilities including acute care hospitals, home health agencies, hospice care, outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, community clinics, and physician organizations throughout California, Texas and New Mexico. Our 24,000 dedicated employees strive daily to provide perfect care while building the healthiest communities and ensuring every encounter is sacred. SJHS is committed to maintaining a continuum of care that matches the diverse needs of the communities we serve. For more information about SJHS, log onto www.stjhs.org.
About Emerge.MD
Emerge.MD is a 10-year-old privately held company based in Phoenix, Arizona. It offers workflow-aware telemedicine and teleconsultation solutions in a software-as-a-service model. Emerge.MD solutions are multi-lingual and can be deployed anywhere in the world. For more information visit www.emergemd.com
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CONTACT:
Kellie Todd Griffin
St. Joseph Health System
(714) 347-7547
Email Contact
Vince Balsamo
Emerge.MD
(216) 236-3743
Email Contact