MedStar Health News

As Emergency Departments (EDs) work to best address unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study recently published in The Journal of Emergency Medicine by a multidisciplinary MedStar Health team details how integrating telehealth into the ED workflow can reduce healthcare provider infection risk, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and ED length of stay (LOS), among other benefits.

MedStar Health’s telehealth, human factors, and research teams authored two recently-published research articles to share lessons learned while helping the system navigate telehealth’s exponential growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the peak of the spring 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, MedStar Health conducted more than 4,500 telehealth encounters each weekday to ensure safe and efficient care for our patients, providers, and communities. By May 1, the system had reached the significant milestone of more than 100,000 telehealth sessions delivered in total during the pandemic.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded $976,679 to MedStar Health to provide additional support for the exponential growth of the system’s telehealth offerings in response to COVID-19. As of early July, MedStar Health had delivered more than 275,000 telehealth sessions during the pandemic.

Initially established in January 2016, the MedStar Simulation Training & Education Lab (SiTEL)’s Mobile Simulation Lab has played a critical role in MedStar Health’s response...

MedStar Health is launching the first patient-facing, interactive heart risk calculator that will be integrated in its patients’ electronic health records (EHRs). An estimated 575 cardiologists and other doctors across the system will be able to more easily show patients their personal risk for heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases over time using easy-to-read graphics. This assessment will help doctors recommend lifestyle choices to improve patients’ heart health, a topic that is top of mind each February during American Heart Month.