Virtua Partners with care.ai for AI-Enabled Virtual Care Solutions

On Feb 16, 2024

Virtua Health has partnered with Florida-based care.ai to implement the latter’s Virtual Care solutions throughout the Virtua healthcare system, starting with Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.

care.ai is an artificial intelligence company that offers its Smart Care Facility Platform and Always-Aware Ambient Intelligent Sensors. The company’s solutions transform physical spaces into self-aware smart care environments to autonomously enhance and optimize clinical and operational workflows, delivering a transformative approach to virtual care models.

care.ai’s Virtual Care solutions will be integrated into Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and, ultimately, all acute care settings across Virtua Health. In December 2023, the hospital launched a pilot Virtual Nurse initiative in a medical-surgical unit that empowers bedside and remote nurses to work in tandem to provide patient care. The Virtual Nurse communicates with patients through a secure, two-way optical camera; patients’ family members can also participate in video calls from offsite. The pilot has received favorable patient feedback thus far and is poised to expand to additional hospital divisions.

The larger collaboration is set to optimize patient care, improve the patient and provider experience, and amplify clinician capabilities of both on-site and virtual care teams. Physicians, nurses, and staff are united by the same comprehensive platform, streamlining a wide array of patient care tasks, from routine admit and discharge activities to documentation, fall prevention, and clinician safety. By alleviating the administrative burden of on-site nurses, the AI Smart Care Facility Platform enables them to focus more time and attention on the crucial hands-on care that only they can provide.

“Health systems are facing unprecedented clinician workforce shortages, emphasizing the crucial need to enhance the productivity and presence of care teams with technology that is proven to easily scale,” said care.ai CEO and founder Chakri Toleti. “Our partnership with Virtua Health to leverage first our Smart From The Start virtual care solutions, supported by the ambient intelligence capabilities of our Smart Care Facility Platform, will reimagine a new and enhanced layer of support that empowers Virtua clinicians to work at the top of their licenses, focusing their time and skills on delivering compassionate care with a human touch.”

“By embracing the transformative potential of artificial intelligence and ambient intelligence, Virtua is pioneering a new era in patient care,” stated Tarun Kapoor, MD, MBA, senior vice president and chief digital transformation officer at Virtua Health. “We are excited to announce the enterprise-wide partnership with care.ai; this marks a significant step in our mission to create a more intuitive care journey for all our patients.”

“Our focus is not just on integrating cutting-edge technologies, but on enhancing the human aspects of healthcare. By swiftly adopting optical cameras and ambient sensors, we’re poised to markedly enhance the patient and care team experience, ensuring a safer, more efficient, and empathically connected healthcare experience,” added Michael Capriotti, senior vice president of integration and strategic operations at Virtua Health.

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