For Great River Medical Center, multiple telemedicine solutions provide better coverage and relief for local physicians. When the local specialists are unavailable, patients are transferred about 75 miles away.
In 2018, the facility was ready to explore telemedicine. They reached out to Eagle Telemedicine. It was the beginning of a great partnership.
The inconvenience of long-distance transfers for patients and their families was impacting the rural hospital and community. In November 2018, the facility was ready to explore telemedicine. The hospital’s sole neurologist was overwhelmed trying to provide coverage 24/7/365. It just wasn’t possible.
TThat first contract with Eagle Telemedicine blossomed into a multi-faceted program greatly benefiting the Great River Medical Center patients and community. With the help of Eagle’s specialists, the hospital began providing medical care to more patients on-site, when safe and appropriate, and avoiding transfers to the outlying hospitals.
Benefits of Multiple
Telemedicine Solutions
Critical night, weekend and holiday coverage
Local specialists are satisfied and relieved
Transfers dropped dramatically
Patients and families stay close to home
Located in West Burlington, Iowa, serving residents of this picturesque Mississippi River region, the hospital’s service area includes southeast Iowa, west-central Illinois and northeast Missouri. This is a primarily rural area with family farms, a few industrial complexes, small businesses and small towns – great for families to raise kids, with a relatively large elderly population.
Great River Medical Center is a 378-bed hospital offering acute, rehabilitative, skilled and long-term care. Patients are referred to this hospital from Fort Madison Community Hospital (a community access hospital) and from seven medical clinics servicing the small towns in this region.
“We did the math on costs and justified that it was financially cost-effective to keep patients here with
TeleNeurologist coverage. And it was the right thing for the community.”
– Josh Goeller, Director of Great River Medical Center’s hospitalist program