Covenant Health is implementing and expanding telehealth technology in several locations including LeConte Medical Center, Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System, Fort Loudoun Medical Center and Roane Medical Center. This capability will help Covenant, the area’s largest health system with services offered in 23 Tennessee counties, to provide specialized medical services in its community hospitals outside Knoxville.

Telehealth uses electronic information and telecommunications to support long distance health care, including using video technology for remote clinical assessments and consultations for patient care.

Telehealth is enhancing Covenant Health’s ability to provide excellent care in several ways:

Telehealth technology brings “virtual” physician specialists such as neurohospitalists, critical care intensivists and neonatologists (in partnership with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital) to the patient’s bedside in Covenant Health’s community hospitals. This allows the hospitals to provide timely specialized care, for example, for stroke patients or newborns experiencing complications. Telehealth maximizes the effectiveness and availability of specialists across the health system.

Virtual technology often reduces the need to transfer patients to larger facilities for care. This makes care easier and more convenient for the patient and allows family members to be close to their loved one. If a transfer to a larger Covenant Health hospital is needed, telehealth communication helps accomplish the transfer quickly and smoothly.

Telehealth helps physicians and staff at different facilities collaborate effectively on patient care plans and share information efficiently, resulting in faster decision making an  consistency of care across Covenant Health.