“… Today, the expansion of VA telehealth and telemedicine technologies is a key element of VA’s COVID-19 response efforts. VA Video Connect virtual appointments and other telehealth technologies are playing an important role in flattening the pandemic growth curve by providing patients quick, easy, and effective access to healthcare professionals. VA Video Connect allows VA to treat non-COVID-19 patients (and those experiencing mild symptoms) in the comfort of their own home while limiting unnecessary in-person exposure and keeping beds open in VA medical centers for those most in need.”
“Nationwide, the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is deploying more than 50,000 telehealth kits — each containing a laptop, docking station, mouse, keyboard, webcam, headset, and two monitors—to enable VHA clinicians to connect remotely with patients. VA’s strong foundational investments in telehealth over the past decade positioned OIT to rapidly expand the delivery of virtual care to support Veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“Since the outbreak, OIT has supported an 1,063% surge in Veteran telehealth visits — from approximately 41k total monthly video visits in January to more than 478k in May. To stay ahead of the growing demand, OIT has tripled telehealth visit concurrent call capacity from 3k in February to more than 9k. By upgrading the VA Video Connect system’s on-premises hardware and expanding the video conferencing system to the cloud, the Department is further increasing this capacity to handle more than 15k concurrent sessions. In May alone, OIT’s expanded VA Video Connect capacity helped more than 263,000 unique Veteran patients limit exposure to and spread of COVID-19. The number of Veterans using VA Video Connect each month continues to rise: more than 102,000 Veterans received care through telehealth visits in the first week of June, which is equal to the total unique Veteran patients who used the telehealth system for the entire month of March…”
“OIT is also helping VA expand its use of tele-ICU. Tele-ICU carts allow all ICUs in a network to have access to an intensivist-led care team and gives them access 24/7 to specialist expertise…” Read the full article here.
Source: An Innovative Solution to Support Expanded Telehealth Capability – June 11, 2020. VA.
