The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has announced plans to create a virtual hospital. The state’s health ministry intends that the new virtual hospital will help modernise and upgrade hospitals across the state.
NRW is Germany’s most populous state and one of its richest and most industrialised. It sits in the west of the country, and includes former federal capital Bonn as well as Cologne, Essen and state capital Düsseldorf.
A virtual hospital brings together clinical specialists in a call centre environment. They are equipped with specialist clinical decision and knowledge management systems. They also have direct links to patient monitors and imaging systems in the hospitals and clinics they support.
An emerging trend, most virtual hospitals can be found in America’s mid-West. Examples include the Mercy Virtual Care Center in Chesterfield, Minnesota; the St Luke’s Virtual Care Center in Boise, Idaho; and Intermountain Connect Care Pro Center in Utah.
NRW’s plan for a virtual hospital is being promoted by state health minister Karl-Josef Laumann, a member of the centre-right CDU Party.
The virtual hospital announcement follows Laumann’s comment in an interview in July that he would support mergers and closures of community hospitals and clinics throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. His comments were a response to recommendations by the Bertelsmann Foundation in a report about high mortality figures and poor care in Germany’s smaller local hospitals and clinics.
In their study, the Bertelsmann Foundation found that smaller hospitals and clinics in Germany have much higher than expected mortality from heart attacks and strokes.
The foundation recommended closing around 800 smaller hospitals of Germany’s 3,000, and transferring patient care to larger, better equipped hospitals.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer however rejected the foundation’s recommendations, saying it was important for a country of Germany’s size to maintain a large number of community hospitals.
The NRW health ministry has announced its plans as a bid to modernise and upgrade community hospitals and clinics throughout the state. It did not, however, link the announcement to the Bertelsmann Foundation’s report.
Further reading:
NRW is Germany’s most populous state and one of its richest and most industrialised. It sits in the west of the country, and includes former federal capital Bonn as well as Cologne, Essen and state capital Düsseldorf.
A virtual hospital brings together clinical specialists in a call centre environment. They are equipped with specialist clinical decision and knowledge management systems. They also have direct links to patient monitors and imaging systems in the hospitals and clinics they support.
An emerging trend, most virtual hospitals can be found in America’s mid-West. Examples include the Mercy Virtual Care Center in Chesterfield, Minnesota; the St Luke’s Virtual Care Center in Boise, Idaho; and Intermountain Connect Care Pro Center in Utah.
NRW’s plan for a virtual hospital is being promoted by state health minister Karl-Josef Laumann, a member of the centre-right CDU Party.
The virtual hospital announcement follows Laumann’s comment in an interview in July that he would support mergers and closures of community hospitals and clinics throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. His comments were a response to recommendations by the Bertelsmann Foundation in a report about high mortality figures and poor care in Germany’s smaller local hospitals and clinics.
In their study, the Bertelsmann Foundation found that smaller hospitals and clinics in Germany have much higher than expected mortality from heart attacks and strokes.
The foundation recommended closing around 800 smaller hospitals of Germany’s 3,000, and transferring patient care to larger, better equipped hospitals.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer however rejected the foundation’s recommendations, saying it was important for a country of Germany’s size to maintain a large number of community hospitals.
The NRW health ministry has announced its plans as a bid to modernise and upgrade community hospitals and clinics throughout the state. It did not, however, link the announcement to the Bertelsmann Foundation’s report.
Further reading:
Comments
Post a Comment