Reduced Emergency Room Visits for Elderly, Chronic Patients Attributed to ‘Virtual’ Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team Approach

A new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center finds that better use of today’s communication technology can reduce emergency room visits for elderly and chronic patients.

The researchers studied “Virtual Integrated Practice (VIP)”, a pilot project designed at Rush that links physician practices to teams of pharmacists, social workers and dieticians via phone, fax and e-mail so they could coordinate care for patients. This new approach is designed to develop effective team building and ongoing collaboration among health care provides who do not work together in practice in the same locations or even the same organizations.

Researchers followed higher risk diabetic patients over the course of two years and found that patients in the VIP program made fewer trips to the ER than those not in the program. Patients getting VIP care also reported better understanding of how to use their medications than those getting standard care.  In addition, physicians who were part of virtual teams reported that they were better informed of how their patients were doing between visits than those that were not part of virtual teams.

“Doctors usually communicate through inefficient systems that haven’t changed much in the past three decades. They still pass notes back and forth in the form of prescriptions, signed orders, and mailed progress reports,” said principal investigator Dr. Steven K. Rothschild, co-director of the section of community and social medicine in the department of preventative medicine at Rush.

“The VIP study shows the feasibility of interdisciplinary virtual teams as a practical solution to many challenges seen in primary care geriatric care practices,” said Rothschild.

More Information at Your Fingertips:

• Learn more, read the entire news release. 
• Read more about Virtual Integrated Practice at Rush, visit the VIP page.

• Learn more about primary care services at Rush, visit the Primary Care Services page.