Milwaukee Health System Leverages Telemedicine During Triage Process at Multiple ED Sites

Working with an entrepreneurial startup company, Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee has developed an approach for leveraging the services of one provider who sees patients remotely during the triage process at multiple ED sites. The process has enabled the health system to accelerate throughput times while maximizing provider resources and boosting patient satisfaction. At Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, the approach has reduced door-to-provider times from 60 minutes to about 10 minutes, on average. In addition, the average length of stay has declined by 40 minutes, and the leave-without-being-seen rate has plummeted from 8% to 2%. Providers serving in the virtual triage role average 12-15 patient consults per hour, and the average length of these patient-provider interactions is 80 seconds. Developers say the key to the success of the approach is placing a technician in the ED who can execute the remote physician's orders so that each patient's workup is well underway by the time the patient sees the treating physician on site in the ED. Health system administrators are exploring other ways they can use telemedicine, perhaps to accelerate discharges from the ED and eventually putting remote physicians in charge of low-acuity cases.