Top 5 Digital Health stories of 2025

Digital health continues to reshape how people connect with care — breaking down barriers of distance, time and access in ways that were once unimaginable. In 2025, those advances moved from promise to practice, with new technologies helping patients get care faster and using data to make more informed decisions. OSF HealthCare, through its OSF OnCall digital health arm, has been able to reach communities that have long been underserved. From artificial intelligence and virtual care to immersive technologies and smarter data use, OSF OnCall continued to push health care forward.

These are the Top 5 digital health stories of 2025, in no particular order.

From crisis to confidence: Patient praises new OSF 24/7 primary care – Marci Schneider Batsakis of Orland Park, Illinois was the first patient enrolled in OSF CompleteCare 55+, a new hybrid model of primary care in Evergreen Park, using virtual visits and digital connections to help older people get fast access to providers and stay on top of their health. Schneider Batsakis called the round-the-clock care team number when her blood pressure became dangerously high and that led to timely treatment in the hospital, follow-up support, and a care plan tailored to her needs.

OSF HealthCare receives $1.5 million for new mobile pregnancy and postpartum care unit An OSF OnCall Connect mobile van will offer doorstep service as an extension for women on Medicaid enrolled in a pregnancy and postpartum digital support program. Meridian and Centene Foundation provided $1.5 million in funding for the van to operate in maternity deserts in 12 Illinois counties.

OSF HealthCare offers another layer of monitoring for moms and babies – OSF HealthCare launched 24/7 virtual labor monitoring to enhance in-person care with AI technology. AI software alerts OSF OnCall Acute OB nurses to potential risks, enabling quick coordination with staff at Family Birthing Centers at hospitals across the OSF HealthCare Ministry. This is part of a broader effort to reduce mortality rates among women and babies which remain high compared to other wealthy nations. As part of that effort, we also opted to extend to all patients in the I-80 region, regardless of payor, a Medicaid program for virtual visits and digital support. The area has lost a number of OBGYN providers.

Skip the wait with new OSF OnCall virtual exam visit – OSF OnCall Urgent Care walk-in clinics can get busy, especially during the winter with respiratory viruses. So OSF HealthCare installed new technology in urgent care clinics, allowing patients to do in-office virtual visits and bypass the waiting room. Visitors to the OSF OnCall Urgent Care can get accurate testing and diagnoses using digital tools and an on-screen OSF medical provider.

OSF HealthCare using virtual ER to cut patient wait times – OSF HealthCare is using an innovative approach to help reduce wait times in the emergency departments at OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa and Peru. Patients who meet certain criteria will be given the option to divert to a virtual medical exam through the use of advanced technology and an onsite nurse.

Top 5 OSF Innovation stories of 2025

As we kick off a new year at OSF HealthCare, we’re looking back at 2025 and the big steps we took to make it easier for patients to access care and health information. Working alongside our academic and business partners, we continued to tap into shared expertise and use artificial intelligence in thoughtful, responsible ways — always guided by what’s fair, appropriate, valid, effective and safe (FAVES).

Those efforts are reflected in our Top 5 OSF Innovation stories of 2025, listed in no particular order.

OSF HealthCare named one of America’s Most Innovative Companies – Fortune recognized OSF for its innovation culture and forward-thinking approach, highlighting digital and AI-driven advancements transforming care delivery. OSF first received this distinction in 2023.

OSF Innovation brings VR beating hearts to life for safer surgeries – Thanks to a breakthrough at OSF Innovation, surgeons can “see” their patient’s heart beating in 3D before ever stepping into the operating room. For surgeons, the benefits are game-changing. They can see not only the anatomy but also how it changes with every beat. This is especially critical for conditions such as hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, where the problem lies in how the heart contracts. Even more surprising, the AI began rendering valves — structures notoriously difficult to see on CT scans.

An OSF inventor collaborates to help kids play safely through cancer – Exercise physiologist Nick Kemp collaborated with OSF Innovation Studio to design Port Guard that protects the central venous access port for kids with cancer who want to play and stay active. Seven-year-old Amaneigh Stevenson, pediatric cancer patient, was part of testing and declared, “It makes me feel safe. I love it a lot.”

OSF developing app to diagnose migraines sooner and more accurately – For millions of people living with migraine headaches, getting the proper diagnosis can take years, sometimes even decades. A new digital tool developed by a team at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) and OSF HealthCare aims to change that by helping primary care and other first-contact healthcare providers to identify patients with migraine quickly and accurately.

Decoding your DNA to prevent disease – Using innovative genetic testing, OSF HealthCare stepped farther into personalized medicine in 2025, with a pilot to allow people to be tested with just a swab of their cheek for genetic mutations to determine if someone is at high risk of any of 10 major diseases. So called polygenic testing is not yet covered by insurance but for someone with a a family history of heart disease, cancer or Alzheimer’s, this $250 test could provide some early warning signs and better yet, early intervention.

OSF HealthCare has partners with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Tata Elxsi, a global leader in design and technology services to address critical health care challenges in rural America. Historically, digital health innovations have concentrated on urban populations, leaving rural communities underserved. This pioneering initiative combines advanced technology with academic research from Gies College of Business and Carle Illinois College of Medicine, leveraging real-time OSF HealthCare data to deploy hyper-localized digital health kiosks funded by Jump ARCHES. These kiosks aim to improve healthcare accessibility and outcomes in underserved regions.

Rural areas face steep barriers to health care access, including limited technology awareness, long distances to doctors, poor network connectivity, low population density, and inadequate payer coverage. A detailed OSF-based analysis by the Gies College of Business found that extending access to primary and preventive care in remote and rural areas significantly reduces avoidable emergency care visits among these populations. The initiative focuses on chronic and behavioral diseases and addresses four key challenges: Hospital re-admission and post-acute care health monitoring, geographic and access barriers, health care education and preventive measures, and chronic disease management.

At the core of this initiative is Tata Elxsi’s TEngage platform, a scalable, effective and comprehensive digital health solution designed to deliver seamless health care in rural areas through the kiosks. These kiosks run on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure and incorporate technologies such as Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) for vital sign collection, Hospital Information System (HIS) integration, telehealth services, and secure data workflows. Discussions are underway to incorporate IoT-based remote monitoring, further enhancing the platform's capacity to deliver proactive, continuous care to rural communities.

Beginning in Illinois, the initiative will expand to many counties over three years through a phased approach that allows kiosks to adapt based on community usage and feedback. The kiosks will have advanced features, including telehealth integration, health monitoring, and AI analytics for epidemic tracking and predictive health care insights. Additionally, the devices offer cloud-based management, electronic health record connectivity, automated workflow, and telecom infrastructure that enhances connectivity. The TEngage platform ensures rapid deployment and scalability, establishing a foundation for broader adoption in the future.

Ann M. Willemsen-Dunlap, OSF HealthCare, said, “The computer interface that Tata Elxsi has developed will help community health workers as they bring health screenings and health connectivity to rural Illinois. This will strengthen OSF HealthCare’s ability to meet patients where they are, even if that is miles away from a hospital or clinic.”

Telecom service providers play a vital role in enabling this project by providing the critical last-mile connectivity required for seamless health care access in remote and rural communities. This collaboration demonstrates how partnerships between technology innovators, research institutions, and health care providers can effectively address societal challenges.  The initiative encourages community partners, clinicians, funders, and policymakers to participate in expanding this innovative model across the United States, creating a transformative, technology-driven blueprint for the future of rural healthcare.

Prof. Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, Gies College of Business and Carle Illinois College of Medicine, added, “For people in remote and underserved areas, basic health care often means traveling long distances or having no access to care at all. But when health services are connected through a hub-and-spoke system—from hospitals to regional clinics, to mobile rural clinics, and finally to local health kiosks—we can bring care step-by-step closer to where people live. A simple kiosk at the last mile becomes more than a device; it’s the final link in a larger network that helps ensure no one is left out.”

Sreevatsa Sahasranaman, Sr. Vice President & Head of Healthcare Business at Tata Elxsi, said, “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to driving health care innovation and showcases how technology can make quality care accessible to all. By combining the University of Illinois’ research insights with our expertise, we are delivering hyper-customized care and impactful solutions that touch rural communities and elevate healthcare delivery to new milestones.”

Speaking to health care leaders, providers, and medical students at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, Illinois, Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy for the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and executive director of ATA Action, said the lapse wasn’t caused by technology or lack of provider readiness but by government dysfunction.

“On October 1st, patients across the country woke up to discover they had lost access to their doctors overnight,” Zebley said. “Not because of a technological failure or malpractice, but because of politics. That morning of October 1^st, Medicare telehealth flexibilities, the lifeline that millions of Americans had come to rely on, simply expired.”

The lapse affected Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and hospitals, including OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, participating in the federal Acute Hospital Care at Home program, after Congress failed to extend pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities. Although most private and Medicaid plans continued covering virtual visits, the sudden loss of federal authorization created confusion for providers and patients alike.

During the OSF OnCall Digital Health Symposium keynote speech, Zebley called the situation “a product of dysfunction, delay, and short-term thinking,” despite years of bipartisan support for telehealth across both the Trump and Biden administrations.

He stressed telehealth became collateral damage in a larger breakdown of governance.

On the 41st day of a record-long government shutdown, the U.S. Senate voted 60 to 40 to approve a continuing resolution to reopen the government. The measure would fund much of the government through January 30 and provide funding for some agencies through the end of next September. It also includes an extension of a waiver that allows for telehealth services for Medicare recipients.

Need a permanent fix

Zebley has been urging lawmakers to transform temporary extensions into permanent, digital-native health policy that provides stability for hospitals, clinicians, and patients. He argued that bipartisan goodwill alone is not enough. But Zebley is not convinced the rollercoaster ride is over.

“In the short term, it’s going to continue to threaten at least to be the rollercoaster that it has been in 2025. We have two political parties at total loggerheads – putting aside their agreement on the efficacy of telehealth and virtual care services – they disagree about almost everything it would seem.”

Zebley pointed out OSF HealthCare has been a leader in using digital technology and virtual care to transform health care.

“OSF has continued, through OnCall (its digital health arm), to really push the boundaries of their workforce and push the boundaries of increasing their capacity to do more good for more patients wherever those patients might be. He added, “They really are the gold standard in the use and deployment of technology.”

However, he argued health systems such as OSF can’t build business models around continuing resolutions. Clinicians can’t plan care around congressional calendars. Patients shouldn’t have to wonder whether their next therapy session or prescription refill depends on the latest vote count in Washington.

The future of telehealth

His vision for the future – a “digital-native, AI-enabled” health care system, where policy keeps pace with innovation and where care is continuous, data-driven, and equitable. The telehealth leader emphasized technology has advanced rapidly – from remote monitoring and hospital-at-home programs to AI-assisted diagnostics, but policy and regulation have lagged behind. Zebley stressed a permanent fix is needed.

“So that our fellow citizens, yourselves included, can lead healthier, better lives with more individualized care treatment that really is able to take advantage of the massive reams of data that our health care system can and does produce and come up with bespoke health care plans for them that meets them where they are.”

The lack of a permanent policy, he argued, doesn’t just slow innovation, it denies care.

The ATA and ATA Action are coordinating national coalitions to push for long-term reform, including the ATA Action Advocacy Council, the Virtual Foodcare Coalition, and the Advancing Digital Health Coalition, all aimed at ensuring that digital health access remains stable and bipartisan.

The ATA, through its Center of Digital Excellence is also continuing to collect data to provide additional evidence that telehealth is safe and that it is expanding access to care despite a shrinking workforce.

Regardless of the current lapse, Zebley is optimistic Congress will eventually make telehealth coverage permanent because he says it is one of the rare success stories of American health policy. He reminded those in the room in Peoria that data has already shown that telehealth is not only popular, but it is efficient, cost-effective and patient-centered.

Kyle Zebley

B-roll-OSF OnCall Digital Health Symposium

Being discharged from the hospital can be a scary time. It can include dealing with a new diagnosis, waiting for tests results or adapting to taking a new medication. A 2022 study found that nearly 25% of patients experience adverse events within 14 weeks of discharge, nearly half of which could have been prevented.

That reality prompted OSF HealthCare to innovate to improve the transition back to home and to prevent people from having to return to the hospital. Rose Smith, RN, manager of Digital Care, OSF OnCall, says the Post Hospital Discharge program invites people who have been discharged from the hospital to download the GetWell Anywhere APP to get 24/7 access to their care team. If people don’t want to use the app, they can choose to receive a text or communicate through the GetWell Anywhere website.

Smith says individuals receive daily check-in messages and education.  

“It’s just asking, ‘Do you have your appointments? Do you have transportation? Do you have your meds? How is your condition?’ And then from there our team of nurses and medical assistants will read those responses; reach out to the patient if needed and then also if they have a change in condition, we have advanced practice providers who can do a video visit to see if we can keep these patients home instead of going back to the hospital.” 

The program requires no special equipment. If those who are newly discharged want to track blood pressure, they can use a vitals log. Low risk patients are in the program for 12 days. Any patient who is considered to be medium to high risk for complications or hospital readmission is enrolled for 30 days. Smith says enrollment can be extended, or it can end early, depending on individual circumstances.

For people who have received a new diagnosis, Smith says the Post Hospital Discharge program can offer easy access to answers.

“This just really gives them the opportunity to send us those questions. If they want to talk to a provider, maybe they’re unsure if their medications changed, this gives them an opportunity to have 24-hour access to a nurse, to a provider if maybe something comes up – that we can keep them from needing to go back to the hospital.” 

Sometimes, follow-up appointments after getting out of the hospital don’t happen for two weeks or longer so Smith says having an instant connection before that appointment can be important.

“Do they need extra support? Are they trying to contact someone? Do they not know who to contact? Maybe they have new specialists. Maybe they’re waiting for the referral to go through. So really looking at how we can give them support in between those appointments.” 

OSF HealthCare is trying to lower its hospital 30-day readmission rate across the Ministry, which is currently 12.8%. That compares to 7% for those enrolled in the Post Hospital Discharge program that began in May of 2021. It began supporting all people leaving the hospital at medium to high risk for readmission. The project expanded three months later to include people who are enrolled in home care after a hospital visit.

The digital connection is now also available to low-risk patients leaving all OSF hospitals except the most recently acquired OSF HealthCare Saint Katharine Medical Center in Dixon, Illinois. The hospital is not yet on the Epic electronic medical records system used at all other OSF Hospitals. 

To date, nearly 15,400 people have activated an account to stay connected – just under 30% of people invited. Leaders emphasize the post-hospital support program also helps individuals who have trouble getting to their follow-up appointment. Smith says one of the biggest needs is transportation and OSF OnCall digital health navigators are helping connect people to what they need.

“We have our digital health navigator team who anytime a patient says they’re needing help at home – they might need help getting equipment, picking it up, picking up prescriptions, getting transportation – then we’re able to escalate that to those team members and they’re able to help find resources.” 

Anyone with questions about the program or who needs help getting started with the GetWell Anywhere connection can call (833) 673-5867.

Rose Smith

B-roll of OSF OnCall Post Hospital Discharge program

The OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute is about treating more than a person’s cancer.  In the year since it opened its doors in Peoria, Illinois, the premiere treatment center has developed a personalized approach to help people more easily and quickly get answers.

The comprehensive OSF Cancer Institute opened in February of 2024 as the main hub of an integrated cancer network across OSF HealthCare, with patients receiving care near home when possible. It has already far exceeded expectations, with 70,000 patient interactions. The rapid access approach is a way to get individuals started on their diagnostic and treatment journey as quickly as possible because when it comes to cancer, no one wants to waste time.

Sarah Ince, BSN, RN, director of Contact Center operations at OSF OnCall, the digital health arm of OSF HealthCare says oncology leaders who have witnessed challenges for individuals with cancer have provided valuable input in the collaborative process to design a seamless entry point. Together with select members from an OSF Innovation performance improvement team, health IT and others across the OSF Ministry, the team started with benchmarking with the best of the best cancer institutes across the country.

Ince says the new rapid access model provides a central point of contact for the patient.

“They're seeking care, they're confused, they're anxious, they've maybe just received a cancer diagnosis," Ince explains. “So being able to get our patients to us quickly and effectively. So being able to give them different means – a portal, a phone call, that one central phone number to get to us, to allow patients to get where they need.”

In some cases, patients are waiting for a referral from their primary care provider or an emergency department doctor, and they want to know where that stands. In other instances, patients received a diagnosis but don’t know the next steps.

Mandy Luczkowiak, (pronounced luh-KOH-ee-ack), MSN RN, manager of Contact Center operations at OSF OnCall, says patients can call (844) OSF-HOPE or (844) 673-4467 to be connected immediately with an access coordinator who can check on the status of that referral, and assist with questions regarding supportive services.

“And they feel like, oh my gosh, it started. The journey now has started. I have this person that I've spoken to, I've told them all the things I need to tell them, and they're going to take it from there.”

Luczkowiak says the goal is to get patients booked within 24 hours for a telephone appointment with a nurse who has an oncology background. During that appointment, the nurse will learn more about the patient’s story and medical history, then they gather all records that could be relevant to the patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan.

“So, if we have a patient who is in Florida X amount of months a year, they might have had imaging done there, they might have had treatment there. We’re gathering all that information, so the providers are really excited that the first time they see that patient – that first visit, everything is there.” 

To date, the access advocates and nurses from OSF OnCall have had nurse visits with patients and entered more than 445 referrals based on individuals’ diagnosis and needs. Referrals can be entered not only for a provider, but for services such as transportation, dietary, social work or genetic counseling.

The easy transition to cancer care and support is something Ince says is personal for her.

“For me, my dad has stage four kidney cancer that's metastasized, and a patient in the community, and this is just what I needed a few years ago. So, I really feel connected to this journey through my diagnostic imaging scheduling, that journey and now to the Cancer Institute, I feel blessed to be part of this role.”

The rapid access model will continue to expand, capturing referrals from providers outside of OSF HealthCare. Ince says there have also been preliminary discussions of how this model could be applied to other major medical care offered by OSF HealthCare.

Sarah Ince and Amanda Luczkowiak

B-roll for rapid intake at OSF Cancer Institute

Flu remains the dominant virus

“We're seeing a lot of patients be positive with the flu. It makes you feel really bad with headache, body aches, chills, cough and fevers to name a few,” says Sarah Overton, chief nursing officer of OSF Medical Group, Home Care and Employee Health. “But we're also seeing some COVID-19 and RSV. RSV attacks very young children and older adults."

All the viruses spiking at the same time have been "somewhat crippling" for healthcare providers, Overton says OSF HealthCare hospitals are seeing high inpatients counts, with many people coming in sick with respiratory illnesses through the emergency department.

Across Illinois, nearly 20% of emergency department visits were for acute respiratory illness, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). 7.8% of those visits are attributed to patients with the flu.

"From Chicago and Rockford down to Alton, we're seeing a large number of respiratory illnesses. And I think the country is seeing it overall," Overton says. "The SIREN notifications from the IDPH show that other health systems in Illinois, not just OSF, are seeing this."

Illinois’ respiratory activity level, calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moved up to High in late December, dipped to Moderate in January, and has now returned to High to start February.

“These viruses can kill”

The IDPH has reported five flu deaths this respiratory illness season. Along with three people dying from RSV, and one person dying from RSV and COVID-19.

"There's a little bit of complacency or feeling like the COVID-19 pandemic is done. But these viruses can kill, and they can lead to major medical complications and hospital admissions. I've talked to some of my colleagues who are the nursing leaders in the hospitals, and patients coming in are indeed sick. If you can manage at home, we recommend you do so," Overton says. 

For those who are immunocompromised or chronically ill, Overton says you should consult with a medical professional in person if you are sick, but if you’re a fairly healthy individual who is mildly ill, consider staying home and rest. OSF Medical Group and OSF OnCall offer Urgent Care services for many outpatient appointments, including visits with primary care providers and specialists.

For those caring for themselves at home, there are several over-the-counter medications to help alleviate symptoms. Additionally, a health care provider may prescribe antiviral medication.

“Antiviral medication is most effective is initiated less than 48 hours after your symptoms begin,” says IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra.

Flu vaccine rates down

"We've got ample flu vaccine. We are behind our influenza vaccine rates of where we've been in years past," Overton says. "It's not too late to get your flu shot, it's not too late to get your pneumonia shot. If you get it at a retail pharmacy, that's great. You can also get it at OSF or another healthcare provider. We just want you to get vaccinated.”

Flu vaccines are offered at OSF primary care and many medical specialty offices, along with commercial pharmacies. The CDC’s Flu Vaccine Finder allows you to type in your zip code and find options closest to you. Overton also recommends speaking with your healthcare provider about the recently-approved RSV vaccine available for some.

Respiratory illnesses impacting care teams

"Unfortunately, we have had some experiences with respiratory illnesses in our staff," Overton says. "We need to do everything we can to protect them. OSF Mission Partners (employees) have started masking in those areas we know exposure is likely." Respiratory cough stations with hand sanitizer, tissues and masks are available at all OSF facilities.

How health systems being overloaded impacts patients

"When we overwhelm the health system, it could lead to delays in other critical illnesses that need to come to the emergency room or urgent care to receive adequate management," Overton says.

To protect yourself and others, Overton recommends regularly washing and sanitizing your hands. Also make sure to cover your cough to decrease the spread of respiratory droplets, which is a major way the flu and other respiratory illnesses spread.

When to head to the emergency department

“Those hallmark signs of when to see care is when a fever isn't responding to medications after 24-48 hours. Or when you’re extremely uncomfortable and experiencing respiratory impacts like shortness of breath that you are struggling to breathe,” Overton says.

Warning signs look different for kids and adults. The CDC breaks down symptoms to keep a close eye on:

In children

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish lips or face
• Ribs pulling in with each breath
• Chest pain
• Severe muscle pain (child refuses to walk)
• Dehydration (no urine for 8 hours, dry mouth, no tears when crying)
• Not alert or interacting when awake
• Seizures
• Fever above 104 degrees Fahrenheit that is not controlled by fever-reducing medicine
• In children younger than 12 weeks, any fever
• Fever or cough that improve but then return or worsen
• Worsening of chronic medical conditions

In adults

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Persistent dizziness, confusion, inability to arouse
• Seizures
• Not urinating
• Severe muscle pain
• Severe weakness or unsteadiness
• Fever or cough that improve but then return or worsen

Video Interview Clips

It is also the site of a newly placed telehealth kiosk as part of a continuing grant-funded project through the Community Health Advocacy (CHA) program, a partnership with OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). The kiosks integrate an iPad with a user-friendly display, which is operated through a touchscreen interface.

The newest version expands an effort that began a couple of years ago. It includes features and functions based on input from OSF HealthCare Faith Community Nurses who provide street medicine to unhoused and vulnerable populations. For example, the kiosks and embedded tablets will use cellular technology, which is important because some areas in vulnerable communities don’t have reliable Wi-Fi.

Scott Barrows, MA, director of OSF Innovation Design Lab at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, says he worked with other OSF Innovation teams including engineering, medical visualization and OSF OnCall to come up with the best design and user-friendly navigation and apps for the kiosks.

“Right now, we have two basic languages – English and Spanish – on the opening page and then other languages in the findhelp portion but it has to be super easy to use. And, that’s another thing we’ll look at.” Barrows explains, “We’ll see how many times does someone have to tap the screen and get to where they want to go? Are they happy with it?” 

Findhelp is an application that provides a directory of community-based resources within a pre-selected geographic area. Users can type in a ZIP code and then select what they need. Some of the options address social drivers of health, such as food, housing, work, money, transportation and education. These are things outside of direct medical care that significantly impact a person’s health.

Mary Stapel, MD, lead physician of Community Care at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, says current community needs assessments show housing, substance abuse and mental health treatment among the biggest needs. But Stapel says the findhelp app will collect data that could help provide concrete, up-to-date information about what services are most in demand.

Data could drive future services

“I don’t know that we yet fully understand all of the maybe unmet needs that are still apparent for the population that are served here. So again, I think this will help us understand by seeing what people are utilizing on the kiosk.” 

Sommerville agrees data collection will help as social service advocates apply for additional grants and government services to improve community health and well-being.

“It could lead to a shift in the community. I always say some programs are created from individuals who feel as though they know what the community needs. This would be the community telling us exactly what they need and now it’s on us to create something specifically for them.”

Sommerville is also looking forward to having the findhelp app as a resource for him to tap when someone reaches out looking for help.

“It’ll be nice to be able to say, ‘Hey the Dream Center provides this, or hey CASA provides this, or The Center for Prevention and Abuse provides X’ and to know what I’m talking about when I’m saying it. That’s the part that I appreciate because in the past, it’s always been a phone call or reference of some sort.” 

In Peoria, the kiosks will also be located at the Dream Center, the Jolt Foundation and the Peoria City-County Health Department. Barrows says staff at each location will be trained to direct visitors to the kiosks and to help them with navigation if they have issues. However, he says the kiosks should be so user-friendly that they could be used independently. Barrows says research for the next six months to a year will include user feedback.

“We’ll do focus groups. We’ll meet with people one-on-one if they prefer or in small group settings but that is critical in user design. The emphasis is on the people that use it and the resources.” 

The same will be occurring in the Chicagoland area where many unhoused Chicagoans also suffer from chronic medical and behavioral health conditions that can make them vulnerable to premature mortality. Under the CHA grant program, kiosks will be located at the Revive Center and Hope’s Table as well as in the outpatient pharmacy at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Faria Munir, PharmD, MS, BCPS is clinical assistant professor of the drug information group at the UIC Retzker College of Pharmacy and is co-lead investigator for the research. She says the secure kiosks will not collect identifying information from users. However, users will be asked if they are willing to fill out follow-up surveys that will include important questions that will inform the second phase of this pilot.

“Like how they're paying for medications. What kind of assistance they need in terms of their health? What kind of are their biggest barriers and receiving both health care and both prescription and OTC (over-the-counter) medications? What kind of concerns do they have about their health? And a lot of questions that are focused on their attitudes toward telehealth. 

Down the road, Munir would like to see more health care providers engaged in designing resources that could be available through the kiosks, including potential telehealth visits. But she knows that effort would require bridging a lot of hurdles including protecting user privacy.

In the next phase of the research, Munir does envision expanding the health kiosk locations to more community pharmacies and emergency department waiting rooms. In the meantime, by providing access to information about preventive care, disease management and available quality health care and community resources, researchers from OSF and UIC believe the kiosks can improve individual and community health.

Scott Barrows

Mary Stapel and Faria Munir

Marcellus Sommerville

Kiosks B-roll

Digital health technologies have allowed people to access care where and when they want it because of computing platforms, software, sensors, and connectivity.  But, Sarasohn-Kahn says connectivity is a barrier for some who are experiencing gaps in care. 

“Because not everyone has connectivity. It costs money that a lot of people don’t have to spend. So, this is a limiting factor that we can address but we shouldn’t be pollyannish about this for everybody because not everybody can get online, and we learned that during the pandemic.” 

Connectivity, says Sarasohn-Kahn, is a social driver of health, much like transportation, food, housing and other social needs. She emphasized that partnerships with community and government organizations will be needed to create what she called “techquity”— tech equity. 

Universal access to innovations can help reduce inequities and remove barriers to care for underserved populations. Sarasohn-Kahn points out innovative health systems such as OSF HealthCare are investing in new technologies, providers, and data scientists to drive better health and prevent hospital admissions. Now, evidence is starting to show returns on that investment in better patient care and reduced treatment costs. 

Globally, she says for every $1 invested in telehealth, there is a $19 return to the economy in increased productivity and reduced health care costs. But trust is a major factor in driving consumer engagement in telehealth.

Sarasohn-Kahn says misinformation that began during the pandemic and that continues today is driving down trust in health care. 

 “Without trust, people will not engage with you as a health care provider. There has to be that sacred, and I use the word sacred because it’s real, it’s (a) deep bond of trust and it’s a precursor to health engagement.”

Technology is allowing the movement of more care to the home. Blood tests, labs, and imaging can increasingly be performed in the home or remotely. Sarasohn-Kahn says the growth of digital health apps, digital therapeutics and increased use of sensors integrated with smartphones that can passively monitor patient metrics is advancing convenient care. Plus, there's been increasing expansion of videoconferencing for virtual visits from anywhere. 

She emphasized that health systems can take a lesson from OSF and embrace collaboration to boost trust, access and equity. For example, trusted community organizations can be partners to help build one-on-one relationships with people who don’t trust health care. Once patients engage and have a great experience with a virtual visit or using a platform for health monitoring or other technology, Sarasohn-Kahn suggests they will help others get on board.

“Once you start that process, people will engage, ask more questions and then they become your evangelists in the community. She shared, “I’ve seen this over and over. It takes a lot to get (trust) up, but once you get that relationship going, it can be a beautiful thing.”

Faster computing power and use of generative AI will also transform health care.

Artificial intelligence will be embedded in so many aspects of our lives, including health care. And, with proper governance and ethical use, Sarasohn-Kahn says it can make the most of a shrinking and increasingly burned-out workforce. She outlined several practical applications.

“In research trials, marketing personalization; same way it will have in health care decision making, productivity – not to replace jobs but to enhance people’s ability to do more and have the lower, easy low-hanging-fruit stuff done so that you can concentrate and work at the top of your license whoever you are and not just for clinicians but for all workers to work at the good stuff.”

From her research and personal experience Sarasohn-Kahn says its clear health consumers have mixed feelings about AI and data privacy. But, she says many are willing to share their data if they see the value in doing so. For consumers, she advises making sure to use apps that are HIPPA compliant (legislation that protects personal health information).

Finally, what is also needed to drive more engagement with telehealth? Sarasohn-Kahn says a federal data privacy law that mirrors what is in place in Europe, based on the premise that all consumers should have complete control over their own personal data.

Video clips with Jane Sarasohn-Kahn

B-roll for digital health symposium

OSF OnCall leaders realize many colleges of nursing faculty and students are just getting back to the classroom the end of the month of August, so they've extended an early bird registration deadline for its first-ever OSF OnCall Digital Health Symposium October 16.

The digital health arm for OSF Healthcare offers full-scale digital health and convenient care options for using digital health platforms and software to connect people with care 24/7. This immersive conference brings together digital health experts, clinicians and leaders to discuss current trends, program development and implementation, and the future of digital health care.

The event will be held at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center, an accredited facility for improving patient care. The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), have certified education and training at the center to provide continuing education for health care teams. This symposium was planned by and for health care teams. Learners will receive 6.50 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change. 

A woman behind one of the Top 100 health blogs to follow in 2024 is the keynote speaker at this conference to explore innovative solutions to enhance patient care. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist, advisor and trend spotter known for her Health Populi blog will provide an update on the state of digital health on the local, state and national level. 

The event will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. October 16 at Jump at 1306 N Berkley Ave in Peoria, Illinois.

Enjoy an engaging panel discussion moderated by OSF OnCall Senior Vice President Jennifer Junis, “Building a quality structure to drive clinical excellence in digital health.”

The patient’s voice will be front and center during a fireside chat. After lunch there will be a variety of break-out sessions with practical takeaways including:

·         Building capacity and engagement with a digital hospital

·         Creating capacity with virtual hospitalist models

·         Five hundred miles of intensive care (how digital intensive care supports bricks and mortar care)

Plus, ambulatory care sessions including:

·         Chronic disease management with remote patient monitoring

·         Saving moms and babies: improving prenatal care via 24/7 digital access and clinical partnering with OB/GYN

·         Virtual urgent care

And, we’ve added FRANC talks, the OSF OnCall version of TED talks – short, engaging presentations with compelling content and storytelling.

“We learned so much at the recent American Telemedicine Association Nexus 2024 convention in Phoenix and we wanted to continue the conversations,” said Junis. “There are so many possibilities to transform how we care for our patients; using AI to help identify patients at risk, leveraging telemedicine for specialist care, enlisting remote monitoring and digital health tools to facilitate real-time communication between patients, caregivers, and health professionals to promote timely interventions and more coordinated care.” Junis added, “We can learn from each other, while always recognizing each community and each patient we serve is unique.”

Registration includes breakfast and lunch. Wrap up the day with a cocktail reception for networking and fun!

Register NOW for $250 and get your discount.

*Registration is $300 after August 30.

Registration closes October 9. 

Breastfeeding a newborn can feel like a full-time job, especially in the first two weeks. It’s a stressful time with a lot of uncertainty, lack of sleep, conflicting demands, and some babies are cluster feeding – that is when infants want a lot of short feeds over a few hours.  

Brianna Jochman, (pronounced Jock-um) RNC-MNN, BSN, CLS, digital care nurse for OSF OnCall, the digital health arm of OSF HealthCare, knows this all too well. She’s a certified lactation consultant and a new, first-time mom herself so she understands the struggles. During National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, Jochman wants new moms to know they are not alone and can lean on experts for support. 

OSF OnCall is nearing the one-year anniversary of offering virtual education and coaching for new moms who are breastfeeding. Jochman says issues with lactation and latching are common. New or expectant moms can be referred to OSF OnCall for virtual breastfeeding education and coaching through their OB/GYN. Others are referred through the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative (MIC), aimed at supporting women during and after pregnancy.  

Jochman says patients love that they can ask questions and get help all from the comfort of their home. She works on camera during virtual visits to show new moms how to position the baby to get the deepest latch. Without that, she says a woman’s nipples can become sore and breastfeeding becomes painful. 

“We really do try to troubleshoot that latch.” Jochman adds, “First, make sure we've got a good deep latch and then if mom is still struggling, we will recommend coconut oil, olive oil, any oil-based product that you can lubricate with. We always want to lubricate before pumping and after breastfeeding.”

Jochum says coconut or olive oil is safe for babies if they get a little in their mouth. 

A common mistake is not positioning the baby correctly. Jochman says it’s best to position your hand under the baby’s neck and shoulders to allow them to move their head freely. She recommends using pillows for support and positioning the baby, so their chin touches the breast first.  

“You want to keep their chin up and you want to get that deep latch. You don’t want to nipple feed and have a superficial latch. Wait until baby gets that open mouth and place baby on as deep as you can.”

Self-expression is good for breastfeeding moms 

Jochman uses simple demonstrations using a stuffed bunny to show proper positioning and hold. She also encourages women in the early days to self-express milk by using their hands, beginning at the chest wall and then moving forward. To demonstrate, Jochman uses a crochet breast model that allows lactation experts to show the process to new mothers who might be concerned they’re not producing enough milk.  

That milk then can be saved for a “bonus” feeding. 

Another tip – save using the pacifier for about two weeks to help establish a feeding routine while moms are still establishing their milk supply.  

Jochman stresses, “We want to make sure in those early days that moms are watching closely for those hunger cues from babies and not getting it confused with comforting them. So, we want them to get that cluster feeding accomplished, get their supply in and then you can introduce that pacifier.”

Virtual sessions to select a breast pump and showing how it works are also part of the support. Jochman says it is important to have the correct fit and that if a feeding is missed, it’s important to hand express or pump milk to maintain a regular milk supply.  

If a partner or family member wants to give a baby a bottle in the early weeks to give new moms a break, Jochman says there are other ways to support a breastfeeding mother. 

“Helping the moms with meals and filling her water or changing baby’s diaper; just little things that really add up to a lot – making sure that mom is well nourished and getting breaks in between feeds so taking baby to another room, taking baby on a walk even.”

During the hot days of summer, some women are concerned their breastfeeding babies need water. Jochman says that’s not the case because the body produces the perfect nutrition for the first six months, so fully breastfed babies don’t need any water until they've started eating solid foods. 

OSF OnCall breastfeeding support is available to all women, even if they are not an OSF patient. Here is the complete list of resources available: 

• Lactation Consultation: One-on-one sessions with certified lactation consultants to address breastfeeding challenges, techniques and positioning.
• Education: Topics such as breastfeeding benefits, milk supply and pumping are addressed.
• Resource Provision: Access to breastfeeding supplies, such as pumps and nursing pads, and referrals to community resources.
• Nutrition Guidance: Advice on maternal nutrition and its impact on milk production.
• Prenatal Education: Preparing new moms for lactation and what to expect at delivery, in addition to assistance in selecting a pump.
• Behavioral Health: Nurses find appropriate support services for moms with signs of postpartum depression or anxiety.

For a virtual appointment, call 1-(844) 381-3603. 

In -person breastfeeding support
In addition to virtual services through OSF OnCall, the Breastfeeding Resource Center in Peoria also offers telehealth lactation consultations and has been doing so since 2018. It can also provide in-person evaluations if an infant is not gaining enough weight, or mother is concerned about her supply. It can offer weighed feeds to see how much a baby is consuming and other issues can be evaluated such as infant suck patterns and tongue movement. 

The center sees as many as 75 women in person each month with many more phone consultations. It also offers breastfeeding supplies. It can be reached at 1-(309) 683-6672. 

Contact an OSF hospital near you to learn what services might be available for in-person breastfeeding support and evaluation and for information about in-person support groups for breastfeeding women led by certified lactation consultants.  

Video clips with Brianna Jochman

B-roll for virtual breastfeeding support

OSF OnCall Senior Vice President Jennifer Junis has been named to the American Telemedicine Association’s newly formed Leadership Council to facilitate collaborative problem-solving and expedite practical solutions to today’s health care challenges.

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is a broad and inclusive member network working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalization, and provide education and resources to help integrate digital care into emerging value-based delivery models of care.

OSF HealthCare has been a member of the American Telemedicine Association for more than 10 years. The association has been a resource as the Peoria, Illinois-based health system built its OSF OnCall digital health platform to expand access to care, particularly to vulnerable communities.

“I believe the future of health care keeps patients at the center of new models that provide expanded access to high quality, lower-cost care to improve individuals’ health and wellness, and therefore their quality of life,” said Jennifer Junis, senior vice president OSF OnCall.  “I’m excited to be among dedicated professionals committed to tackling the biggest challenges facing telehealth, uncovering new opportunities while keeping momentum strong and bipartisan support high.”  

OSF OnCall recently shared its journey to create a digital health arm at the ATA’s Nexus 2024 conference in Phoenix, Arizona. A system spotlight presentation and a high-profile, interactive exhibit showcased many OSF OnCall digital care programs.

“We were honored to share the challenging but exciting journey we’ve taken to capitalize on new technology and partnerships to enhance access, improve outcomes, and foster a culture of proactive health care management,” Junis said of the experience.

ATA Leadership Council members will meet twice a year to help prepare their organizations for emerging developments and best practices that will enhance efforts to expand telehealth.

American Telemedicine Association CEO Ann Mond Johnson says members are committed to creating evidence and building trust in health care and telehealth, and to using telemedicine to eliminate disparities in health care.

“OSF OnCall demonstrates how telehealth can be done and in fact, that it can be done. So, it represents how health systems can meet patients where they are, which is what we’re trying to do as an industry,” said Mond Johnson. “I’m so pleased to have Jennifer’s experience on the Leadership Council to help us drive policy and efforts that can help others achieve what OSF has been able to accomplish.”

Your toddler spent the day in the pool and now has a weird rash that’s kept her up all night. You’re feeling a familiar pain, and you just know it’s a urinary tract infection but you’re leaving for vacation in the morning.

These are typical summertime scenarios, and instead of having to wait until a walk-in clinic opens, OSF OnCall Urgent Care offers virtual care options that are available 24/7 year-round, including holidays and weekends. 

Kate Barth, vice president/chief nursing officer for On-Demand Services, OSF OnCall, says consumers want health care options that are convenient, like what they’re used to experiencing with online shopping and banking, so OSF offers lower-cost, easy virtual urgent care options, especially when a minor illness or injury happens after hours.

“It’s the mom with multiple children who are sleeping and (she thinks) ‘I have a sick kiddo who I cannot console and what do I do?’ Seeking out virtual urgent care in those options is such a great opportunity to connect with a provider who typically would serve you in that urgent care setting.”

 AAA projects Independence Day travelers will set new records both nationwide and in Illinois. More than 70.9 million people around the U.S. are expected to travel 50 miles or more away from home with 4.1 million being Illinoisans. Barth says if you’re away from home, no problem.

If there’s Wi-Fi, internet or a hotspot near a campsite or at a hotel, a video visit with an OSF OnCall provider could be more convenient than finding the nearest walk-in clinic.

Individuals who want to virtually access OSF OnCall Urgent Care can select an online interview (taking between 5-15 minutes) where they’re asked a series of questions about symptoms and how they’re feeling. Their information will be reviewed within an hour. Using a chat feature, additional information could be requested before an OSF HealthCare provider offers a treatment plan. 

“Maybe the provider would need to visualize the bug bite or something that looks like a rash, so we do have that video option also available to be able to assess that situation and be able to give a diagnosis in that case as well.”

If treatment requires medication, a prescription can be sent to the pharmacy of the individual’s choice.

What happens if the online consult or video visit reveals someone needs to be seen in-person?

“We all know there are things that sometimes can’t be virtually treated. Sometimes a lab test may be needed, or a hands-on assessment might be needed to confirm a diagnosis. In that case, we simply refund that virtual visit knowing that it is best-case scenario for you to be seen in an actual urgent care setting.”

For example, sprains and strains can usually be assessed virtually, but broken bones can only be confirmed through an X-ray, which is available at an OSF OnCall Urgent Care walk-in location.

Barth points out, those walk-in clinics also offer more than simple urgent care.

“Employee physicals or drug testing as well as those school and sports physicals that we always catch ourselves running behind on where at the last minute a child says, ‘I need this for tomorrow!’”

The cost of virtual care is less than an in-person visit. An online interview is $30 and a video visit, typically lasting between 15 to 25 minutes, is $60. OSF OnCall Urgent Care accepts a wide variety of insurance plans. Medicare patients are welcome to use an OSF OnCall Urgent Care option, however a virtual visit is not currently reimbursed.

Anyone experiencing a medical emergency or symptoms such as chest pain, breathing difficulty or severe abdominal pain should go directly to the nearest emergency department or call 9-1-1.

Video Clips of Kate Barth

B-roll of Virtual Urgent Care

Telehealth stakeholders at a recent, national conference in Phoenix detailed how digital care needs are evolving as providers shift to a longer-range, integrated, and personalized mode of digital health care.

Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare continues to expand digital transformation, by continuing to invest in research and core technologies, along with creating an omni-channel experience for patients. That transformation was highlighted during a spotlight presentation at a conference hosted by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).

Jennifer Junius, RN, MSN, senior vice president at OSF OnCall Digital Health and John Vozenilek, MD, chief medical officer, Innovation & Digital Health at OSF HealthCare stressed that standardization, investment in infrastructure and security, along with collaboration with community partners and across departments is crucial for delivering seamless care.

OSF built upon its early foundations of digital care with an virtual ICU that was co-located in the Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center, the Innovation space for OSF HealthCare. Dr. Vozenilek shared that necessity during the COVID pandemic kicked into high gear, longer-term plans for digital transformation.

“We then built systems of care tools and technologies around that, leading up to now when we have more than 800 Mission Partners (employees) that are part of OSF OnCall.” Dr. Vozenilek added, “Through the process of innovation, we took our creativity and put it into action and that action was realized in the care we provide through OSF OnCall today.”

Junis emphasized the importance of developing guiding principles for new care models. Establishing a single point of contact to help patients navigate and seamlessly get the care they need was a big priority in the guiding principles of OSF OnCall. 

Now OSF OnCall has multiple programs that are clinically integrated, that can really care for patients 24/7/365. 

Junis explained the vision. “We wanted to create self-service tools we knew all other industries were moving towards. We wanted to put the patient’s care in their own hands by creating transparency. We wanted to be proactive.”

Other guiding principles: “We wanted to use data, innovation, and intelligence to be able to outreach to our patients when they needed something before they even knew they needed it.” Junis outlined, “We also want to empower our clinicians and employees to have the right tools, the right technology at the right time. That would lead to care for patients where and how they wanted to receive it.”

Another benefit to an integrated digital health approach is that it allows OSF HealthCare to better manage capacity. OSF OnCall focuses on three distinct efforts: digital experience (allowing patients to reach us in a way that works for them), digital care (that includes new models such as using virtual hospitalists, hospital-at-home or mobile solutions that can connect people to a care team) and on-demand services (walk-in and virtual urgent care).

OSF HealthCare is also exploring strategies to enhance care delivery such as leveraging artificial intelligence in medical technology and predictive analytics, using mobile clinics and digital health navigators and centralizing processes such as data and analytics for care management.

For example, during a Main Stage presentation at ATA, Brandi Clark, OSF OnCall vice president of Digital Care said integrating digital tools that are easy to use can transform the patient experience.

“We are really focused on the end-to-end experience of our patients and the way that our patients experience us from the front end of our website. So, Aniq (from partner Fabric Health) mentioned the AI-driven Chatbot (Clare) that we have at OSF – it’s a great example of the way that technology has changed the experience of the patient and enabled our caregivers to be focused where our patients need them to be.”

Clark says OSF is continually evaluating existing technology partnerships and whether alternatives exist that could provide more value.  Collaboration focuses on a select, few partners where there is mutual benefit to helping startups build products using health system data and insights.

Clark emphasized clinical efficiency in telehealth is vital, so pilots prioritize clinician involvement and a regular feedback loop while new technology and workflow are tested. She highlighted digital tools can help clinicians be more efficient and make more informed decisions, but they can’t replace them. Using tools to make providers better at what they do is what Clark calls “the secret sauce.”

Here is more information about OSF OnCall and OSF Innovation.

Video clips of Dr. John Vozenilek and Jennifer Junis

Video of Brandi Clark

B-roll for Use guiding principles to develop digital health strategy

Like many communities, the older population in Streator, Illinois has grown – so much so that 20% of residents in the north central city are 65 or older. So, it’s no surprise that healthy aging ranked as the fourth-most important health issue in the most recent Community Health Needs Assessment There’s also a big concern about mental health which ranked second for identified health needs in the 2022 survey.

That demographic information and identified health priorities will help guide the innovation sprint by medical students from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria (UICOMP). They’re part of the EquIMED program – a four-year elective track for medical students. During an innovation sprint, third and fourth year students are challenged with developing an innovative tool or approach to solve a fundamental problem.

Starting February 12, five EquIMED students will be spending a week in Streator to learn first-hand about health challenges for those 65 and older. They will then pair up to develop solutions.

“We have medical providers and social service agencies under one roof at the Center for Health in Streator so there are opportunities for collaborative solutions,” says Community Health Engagement Program Manager Ellen Vogel.

Vogel points out the second-most populous city in LaSalle County, Streator does not have an adult day center or a senior center.

The EquIMED program was developed with an understanding that the challenges facing rural and under resourced communities across the globe are the same as in the U.S. and so solutions developed could help regionally and globally.

“As many as 1.5 million Illinois residents lack access to health care because they live in rural and/or medically underserved communities. We need to come up with solutions that provide more access, but also that can support those residents in between appointments,” says John Vozenilek, MD, vice president for Innovation & Digital Health, OSF HealthCare. Dr. Vozenilek who is also a UICOMP professor and course director adds, “The University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria EquIMED track offers a four-year curriculum and the opportunity to expose future medical providers to patient populations with unique struggles as well as strategies for how to create innovative solutions for them.”

EquIMED students are learning about innovation through hands-on work, small group sessions, simulations, online lectures, lunch and learns, dinner speakers, as well as from instruction by OSF Innovation experts who work at the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center, a collaboration between OSF HealthCare and UICOMP.

“The solutions generated by the students have the potential to offer real value, but the real value to the EquIMED students is the journey of discovery and what they learn through an iterative process to advance health equity innovation across environments where health disparities exist. They learn how to ask questions, communicate, document, think critically and research what’s already available and bring the best options forward,” explains UICOMP Program Coordinator Erica Litzsey, MS. “They can use the approach in the future whether they become physicians serving rural, urban or any type of community.”

Additional Background

Some previous solutions from EquIMED students are being developed further in partnership with Bradley University:

• PeoriaFresh! - The software system allows food banks and local gardeners to collaborate and share produce.
• Diabetes and Resourceful Testing (DART) - An app that uses community health workers to increase access to diabetes testing supplies so glucose levels can be measured at least once a week. It will also provide a dashboard with alerts or individual patients better manage their glucose levels. Bradley and OSF are providing additional funding for both efforts through an Innovation for Health grant.

The diabetes management program was a solution proposed by students working in Uganda which has a problem with patients being able to access and afford diabetes testing supplies, particularly in communities with no hospitals or medical clinics. UICOMP has an ongoing relationship with a university in Uganda but due to unrest in the East African country, along with a U.S. travel ban, students won’t be traveling there for their innovation sprint this semester. Erica Litzsey says EquIMED program leaders are looking for another university willing to collaborate to expand the global options for embedding students for future innovation sprints abroad. 

B-roll for EquIMed  program

The success of the OSF OnCall Digital Hospital in Peoria has paved the way for expansion to Rockford, Illinois.

OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center is preparing to launch OSF OnCall Digital Hospital – an option to receive hospital-level care at home for some patients such as those with heart failure, COPD, COVID, infections, pneumonia, or other illnesses. Patients who qualify have been admitted through the emergency department or referred for admission directly by their provider.

Courtney Dahnert, MSN, RN, supervisor of Clinical Digital Care for OSF OnCall Digital Hospital in Rockford, says the care team at the OSF OnCall Command Center in Peoria will identify patients aged 18 and older who could be enrolled. Criteria to be enrolled includes their diagnosis, condition stability, they live within 30 minutes of OSF Saint Anthony, and have an insurer that covers hospital care at home. Medicare is among the payers willing to support home-based acute care.

OSF OnCall Digital Care Manager Melissa Meier, MSN, RN, says patients are also screened to make sure their home environment is safe and that they have the ability to be cared for at home. Once enrolled, a tech kit, providing 24/7 instant connection, is set up in the home before a patient arrives.

“A tablet, which is how we do our video visits, as well as Bluetooth enabled biometric equipment for us to be able to do vital signs remotely. We also bring a backup power source as well as a backup internet source and a device which is a personal emergency response system, which functions much like a Life Alert button.”

For potential candidates worried they’re not tech savvy, Pam Anderson, a patient from Morton enrolled in the program through OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria says everything is so easy to use.

“The phone … you don't dial it. You just pick it up and it rings directly to the (digital health) center. And once you do that, then somebody will appear on the iPad. So, if you do need something, you're actually speaking to someone (you can see). You're not just talking on the phone. And they're extremely prompt in answering. So there really isn't, in my opinion, a lot of technology involved. Thank heavens,” Anderson gladly reports.

There is a minimum of two visits from a nurse each day. Patients receive three meals a day and individuals can live alone or with family members. Costs are the same as for a hospital stay.

Meier says OSF OnCall Digital Hospital helps both the health system and the patient.

Research also shows patients in digital hospital programs recover faster, fewer are re-admitted to the hospital and they avoid hospital-acquired infections.

OSF is currently recruiting and training nurses for the digital hospital program in Rockford with special curriculum developed by OSF Innovation. It includes simulation for real-life scenarios, so nurses are prepared for any challenges. Dahnert says most nurses enjoy this new way of caring for patients that harkens back to the days of house calls.

“It takes us back to being able to provide that really good care; getting to know someone even though we're only caring for them for two or three days and making their health relevant to them. And it gives us time to breathe. So it's an amazing opportunity for both the patient and the provider.”

For patients concerned about their care and safety at home, the first-ever digital hospital patient for OSF, Jim Stickelmaier, says being at home was the best medicine.

“I would say definitely try it. I think they’ll find out that it was a lot easier and a lot nicer to be at home than in the hospital.” 

OSF OnCall has cared for nearly 370 patients in the Peoria area since launching its digital hospital program in August of 2022. The first digital hospital patient at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center could be admitted after the program launches for Rockford area patients on February 27.

Melissa Meier and Courtney Dahnert

OSF OnCall Digital Hospital Peoria-area patients Pam Anderson and Jim Stickelmaier

B-roll OSF OnCall Digital Hospital

More than 1.5 million rural Illinois residents face significant health care access barriers due to a lack of resources and limited infrastructure. OSF HealthCare serves many rural communities in Illinois and Michigan and leaders are looking at telehealth and digital health tools and platforms to bridge those gaps.

Part of the strategy involves collaborating with academic partners such as Illinois State University in Normal. A team made up of faculty at ISU and clinicians from OSF is working on a project to educate the future workforce on using a telehealth platform that can allow real-time assessments, consultations, diagnosis and creation of care plans, along with providing health education for people with chronic conditions in rural, medically underserved communities with aging populations.

The project called STARTED – Simulation to Address Rural Telehealth Education Development is funded by a joint OSF-ISU Connected Communities grant as part of an ongoing collaboration.

Associate Dean for Academics, Susie Watkins, PhD, RN, Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State says the platform will allow nurses to hold pop up clinics in homeless shelters or other community sites.

“This would help us provide some care in a community like that where they don't otherwise have access to health care, and that could potentially avoid them having to use the emergency room for things like ear infections and strep throat,” Watkins says. 

The platform also has attachments that can be used for physical exams performed by a nurse. Data and video from the exam could then be sent back to a provider at a distant hospital or clinic to review and offer a diagnosis and treatment recommendations, including prescriptions or referrals to a specialist.

Watkins holds up attachments as she explains, “It has an attachable otoscope that would record a full ear exam to determine if the ears are inflamed, and then also has an oral tongue depressor feature that one could examine the back of the throat for potential tonsillitis. 

There are other devices that can connect to the platform to provide assessments on heartbeat, lung sounds, blood pressure and other tests such as blood glucose levels that can be sent to the off-site provider via the platform.

The Director of Interprofessional Education at Jump Simulation, Ann Willemsen-Dunlap, CRNA, PhD, is co-lead on the collaboration for the first year of training 120 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and 24 Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) graduate students. She’s supporting the development of web-based learning modules that use patient scenarios, video vignettes and telehealth simulations using standardized participants.

Trained actors will be used

Standardized participants are specially trained actors who portray patients from rural communities with various health challenges. The actors also provide an assessment with standardized metrics that measure competency in various areas including wellness screening, disease specific illness-related triage, disease self-management support using motivational interviewing and person-centered goal planning techniques. Willemsen-Dunlap says the standardized participants also give verbal feedback once the simulation is over.

“They’re going to be talking with their learners about how the interaction made them, as patients, feel from a first-person perspective.” 

Willemsen-Dunlap says eventually community health workers, as trusted advisors, can be trained to go into homes within medically underserved communities to help patients get comfortable with the portable technology that allow for in-home exams, rather than requiring patients to travel long distances for care.

“I think that having a community health worker present in the home to facilitate the interaction and nurses who are skilled and comfortable working in the digital environment, as well as providers who had similar training is going to be the key to success,” Willemsen-Dunlap stresses. 

Other funding sources are being sought from governmental or non-governmental organizations to support additional work to implement a rural health mobile clinic that uses this training and technology to deliver exams and health-related care within underserved communities.

In areas of so-called connectivity deserts, where the internet is not available or is unreliable, OSF OnCall, the health system’s digital care arm, could use an OSF OnCall Connect On the Go van for exams using the enhanced virtual platform and on-site connectivity.

Watkins says one-third of older adults in rural communities have two or more chronic diseases so its important patients continue to stay on track in managing them.  

“This technology would allow nurses to connect with patients on an ongoing basis between provider visits and do that condition specific assessment and also the self-care assessment and make sure that the patient is staying on target with their goals and all of the treatment recommendations made by their provider at the previous visit.” 

In the future, training could also involve behavioral health or dietary students who could be brought in on a telehealth visit to receive training on how to address additional concerns that are influencing a patient’s overall health and wellbeing.

Video clips with Susie Watkins

Video clips with Ann Willemsen-Dunlap

B-roll of robust telehealth platform

Elexys Rosales, a 25-year-old petite pregnant woman from Bloomington, Illinois, was plagued by anxiety that seemed to get worse at night during her third trimester. Her concern was not only limited to her anxiety affecting the baby girl she’s carrying, but also having a low-weight baby due to her own below-average weight. Fortunately, her doctor suggested a mobile app and online platform providing her 24/7 contact with a care team made up of a nurse, pharmacist, social worker and licensed therapist.

The tool was developed by Get Well, a digital health company founded by cancer survivor Michael O'Neil, who wanted to be more involved in his own care. Together with Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare and its OSF OnCall digital health arm, they deliver the kind of experience that provides the necessary support for patients such as Rosales where, when and how they want it.

 For Rosales, it means being able to reach out at 3 a.m. when her anxiety is keeping her awake.

“Being pregnant and having anxiety, you get so emotional, and I would be crying to myself at night. I would call the nurses and they would be on the phone with me for hours sometimes, or just 30 minutes to help me calm myself down. They would talk about different things, including my future with the baby.”

Women enrolled in the OSF OnCall pregnancy and postpartum program receive a blood pressure cuff and regularly report their readings through routine check-ins to avoid having high blood pressure that can lead to pre-eclampsia – a potentially, life-threatening condition. High readings or certain patient messages send alerts through the GetWell Loop platform and prompt an OSF OnCall nurse to reach out. In some cases, the call is escalated to a video visit, or an ambulance run to the hospital emergency department.

OSF HealthCare serves 1 million patients a year. Brandi Clark, vice president of Digital Care, OSF OnCall, says digital tools and platforms such as Get Well can expand access to care and provide wrap-around services to improve a patient’s experience, no matter where they are physically and in their health care journey.

By leveraging remote patient monitoring, education, coaching, navigation and virtual care, OSF OnCall optimizes the expertise of highly engaged nurses, many of whom work remotely, ensuring personalized care for patients through many encounters. It also helps retain experienced nurses who embrace the new opportunity to care for patients in a different way, without some of the physical stressors of in-person care.

The ultimate goal is to improve patient outcomes and experiences while reducing costs. Clark says early metrics reveal supplementing in-person care with additional support is paying off.

“We've enrolled thousands of patients who have been discharged from our hospitals and have demonstrated a 10% or greater reduction in hospital readmissions for those patients who are enrolled in that hospital discharge program. Additionally, we're really beginning to learn about the outcomes that we're achieving with our pregnancy program and beginning to actually see some of those patients that we're taking care of delivering healthy babies.”

OSF OnCall Digital Care Manager Kara Roat says Get Well has a nationally recognized library of medical education that includes videos and tutorials that can be customized for specific OSF patient populations. The company’s digital platform was also used to quickly respond to patient needs, such as remote patient monitoring for babies and young children when RSV hit earlier and harder last year. The GetWell loop can offer education to individuals with a new diagnosis, in addition to training for a patient and their- family when preparing to leave the hospital. Roat says communications can include reminders and questions.

“We ask questions like did you pick up your medications from the pharmacy after you left? Do you have a follow-up visit with your provider? Do you have transportation to that visit with your provider to ensure that they're successful as they leave our hospitals, so they don't get readmitted to our hospital if we can prevent it?”

Helping navigate care options

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, engagement via digital technology has rapidly become the preferred form of communication for many, but not all. For patients who need help getting enrolled and learning the basics, OSF OnCall digitally enabled community health workers help patients get connected. Clark explains tools are easy to use and the Get Well platform makes it simple to assess if patients need other support such as food, transportation, rental assistance or other drivers of health.

“If needs are identified, we're able to connect them through our digitally upskilled community health workers who are able to help ensure those members of our community and our patients are getting all the services that they need.” 

Those community health workers are often deeply engaged in neighborhood activities and can be embedded within organizations such as the Salvation Army or the YM or YWCA. They can also be stationed at OSF OnCall Connect Bars that are in select, easy-access medical offices.

 Roat emphasizes the various programs available through GetWell Loop offer a digital safety net that builds trust through a growing relationship with patients.

“All of our services are in addition to the in-person care that patients should be receiving each and every day. We really strive to fill in the gaps for these patients. It allows them to receive care at any time of day or night and have the opportunity to meet with the provider (virtually) or chat with a nurse whenever is needed.”

Part of the education through GetWell Loop includes live, online birthing classes. Rosales likes that she can keep her camera off if she doesn’t feel like engaging. She says sessions dealing with anxiety have been helpful, particularly when she hears other would-be moms talk about how they cope with their struggles. With her own family in Colorado, Rosales says she’s comforted by having round-the-clock support.

“The nurses are like my family of course. So I know they will always be there for me and support me so I would definitely ask many questions about this pregnancy of mine, especially my first time. I just don't want anything to happen to me or the baby so I think it's best to ask as many questions as you can.” 

Rosales also plans to enroll in the postpartum support option available through OSF OnCall, which offers depression screening, education and 24/7 support after delivery. The pregnancy and postpartum program has been able to provide five times the amount of depression screening than is traditionally provided.  Mental health is a growing concern for all ages across health care. Clark says her team is developing more mental health digital support options in the coming months. OSF already offers SilverCloud – a free, secure, anonymous and interactive platform to manage the feelings and causes of mild to moderate stress, anxiety or depression.

Elexys Rosales, Brandi Clark and Kara Roat

The program is a formalization of the partnership between these two anchor institutions in Bloomington-Normal and the broader OSF HealthCare system. Illinois State and OSF HealthCare are lead hub members of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN). The collaborative work in the Connected Communities Initiative has the potential to generate intellectual property that the two institutions can share and advance the IIN mission of driving inclusive and integrated research, innovation, and economic development across the state.

The agreement also provides a financial foundation for the work with both organizations providing $500,000 each, to contribute a total of $1 million annually for research and development of strategic solutions to improve health care delivery, and patient and provider experience.

“We believe expanding academic collaborations can help us create innovative solutions and new care models that provide more access, particularly to underserved populations,” said CEO of OSF HealthCare Bob Sehring.

“Working with OSF HealthCare on the CCI Program reflects Illinois State’s core values of Collaboration, Learning and Scholarship, and Civic Engagement,” said Illinois State Interim President Aondover Tarhule. “This partnership will provide many opportunities for Illinois State faculty and students to work with our partners at OSF on a wide range of innovative projects that address real-world needs. This is truly an exciting project that will have wide-ranging benefits for all involved.”

The partnership will initially build on Illinois State’s expertise in education, health, cybersecurity, biomedical science, visualization, and process improvement. There will be opportunities for Illinois State’s academic colleges to collaborate on projects with OSF Healthcare. The broad range of faculty expertise and the engagement from the student body will lead to exciting new solutions to complex problems facing society.

“There is a long tradition of partnership between OSF and Illinois State, perhaps most clearly with students in clinical placements and in clinical situations,” said Craig C. McLauchlan, PhD, Illinois State’s associate vice president for Research and Graduate Studies. “The CCI expands that relationship in the area of research and provides an institutional framework that will allow us to build on already existing collaborations more easily. The partnership will provide students and persons in our community opportunities to contribute to innovation and growth that will benefit many.”

OSF Healthcare and Illinois State University have a tradition of collaboration on research, including a recent project to improve low childhood vaccination rates. 

Joint projects can include testing solutions in clinical spaces, such as OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center and medical offices. The efforts will take place both virtually and in-person in a variety of settings including ISU labs and computer centers, along with Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, a world-class building with labs focused on advanced imaging and modeling, blockchain, children’s innovation, genomics and precision medicine, interprofessional education, neuro health, and STEAM.

“For OSF HealthCare, the expanded partnership will support the needs of researchers, medical educators, clinicians and most importantly, patients,” added John Vozenilek, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, OSF Innovation and Digital Health. “The brightest minds at Illinois State University can help us develop novel solutions with enhanced security and business processes to improve patient care and health outcomes, along with optimizing the use of resources using data.” Vozenilek adds, “That will become increasingly important as care continues to move from hospital settings to home and as we expand access to patients across all of the regions OSF serves.”

The CCI is built upon successful models that OSF Healthcare has developed and maintains with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Bradley University.

Video clips with Bob Sehring, Dr. John Vozenilek, Lynn Fulton, Aondover Tarhule, and Craig McLauchlan

B-roll from OSF-ISU partnership announcement

The Medicaid Innovation Collaborative (MIC) – a partnership between Peoria-based OSF HealthCare and four Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), celebrated its one-year anniversary by highlighting a long list of milestones achieved. MIC provides a variety of digital care services and personalized support for Illinois Medicaid patients through programs developed by OSF OnCall.

The state-funded, five-year initiative is designed to transform health care delivery to improve outcomes, decrease disparities and reduce costs using sustainable programs.

The FQHC partners in the program include Heartland Health Services (Peoria, Illinois), Chestnut Health Systems, Inc. (Bloomington, Illinois), Eagle View Community Health System, Inc. (Oquawka, Illinois), and Aunt Martha’s Health & Wellness (Danville, Illinois).

To date, MIC has been able to stand up several programs to expand services by:

• Providing pregnancy and postpartum support 24/7 to enrolled patients; featured on this Health Accelerated podcast.
• Offering remote patient monitoring for chronic disease management including asthma, diabetes hypertension, COPD and heart failure.
• In a collaboration with Illinois Central College, training OSF digitally-enabled health navigators to be embedded within communities across the state and FQHC community health workers; within their facilities and co-located in community-based organizations, including homeless shelters. 
• Expanding breast cancer screenings through digital outreach, making it easy for patients to schedule this important test
• Extending health and wellness education with the goal of reducing chronic disease risks associated with diet and nutrition, exercise, unhealthy weight and smoking
• Launching culturally sensitive, easy-to-use communication tools.
• Developing a systematic approach to assessing social determinants of health and tracking data to prioritize patient outreach, optimize workflow and to identify which patients might fit into specific programs. Future work will integrate all information with a patient’s electronic record for providers to have a holistic view of their patients.

Jennifer Junis, senior vice president for OSF OnCall who also chairs the MIC Governance Council, says community health workers embedded in vulnerable communities also screen individuals for social service needs and they’re connected with local resources to provide support for food, transportation, child care and affordable housing, among other factors that contribute to improved health and wellness.

During a day-long session earlier this week, FQHC leaders and frontline employees reviewed progress toward goals outlined for the first year.

Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington:

•  Began work on a building renovation and hiring for a new dental clinic that will serve Medicaid participants. 
•  Collaborated with a local homelessness service provider/food pantry to organize and implement a Food Pharmacy. Providers at Chestnut screen patients for eligibility criteria and prescribe use of the food pharmacy services. The pharmacy provides fresh and healthy food options often worth hundreds of dollars.
• The CHW program has solidified co-locations for staff at six partnering agencies.

Heartland Health Services in Peoria:

• Built a new team within HHS and the framework to support digital care programs and to provide virtual primary care in homeless shelters.
• Began building trust with leaders and residents of homeless shelters through food and clothing drives and providing COVID-19 rapid kits.
• Hired a digital support manager and community health navigators who have also been trained on tele-diagnostic equipment that can be used to support virtual visits.
   

Aunt Martha's Health and Wellness in Danville: 

•  Trained and hired community health workers.
•  Established monthly Healthy Behavior meetings at the YMCA and Public Library.
•  Educated more than 100 people in the community about resources and how to take control of their health.
•  Expanded training for CHWs on cultural diversity, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Eagle View Community Health System in Oquawka:

• Deployed CHWs who are providing services in three locations in the community.
• Implemented a new electronic health record system (Epic) that allows for better data collection and reporting on health outcomes.
• Hired a new transportation van and hired a transportation director.

Junis says these efforts are designed to wrap a 24/7 digital safety net around patients that is available 365 days a year

“So if you have a question in the middle of the night, you don't have to go to an emergency department, or you don't know who to call. You can reach out to us and it's through text messaging or calls and we're available. So that's really the transformation piece. Is that we're not episodic but we're really meeting patients where they are and where they need us the most, at the times that they need us.”

The effort is expected to lower health care costs by keeping people out of the emergency department or the hospital, the most costly point of care. Savings can also be created by scaling the effort with telehealth providers overseeing care for many patients at a time.

MIC will continue into year two with goals of improving dental care for patients, providing virtual health to residents of homeless shelters, and enrolling new patients in existing MIC programs. Junis says it’s also about improving based on feedback.

“Year two is about optimization, and coordination and collaboration, and really continuing to work together to understand all of our different components of the holistic care of a patient and how we all play such a big role in that.”

Video Clips with Jennifer Junis, Senior Vice President for OSF OnCall Digital Health

Samantha, a 25-year-old woman who recently had her second baby, enrolled in a new program through OSF OnCall Connect that provides support to pregnant women with Medicaid insurance.

The program likely saved her life. Eight days after she delivered a healthy baby girl, Samantha messaged her care team through an application that can be accessed on a tablet or smartphone that serves as a key connection and education tool.

It’s available through the OSF OnCall Connect pregnancy-postpartum program and connects patients instantly to a nurse. Samantha explained she was suffering from a terrible migraine headache and chest pains. The OSF OnCall nurse immediately recognized the significance of her symptoms and notified the advance practice provider who recommended Samantha go directly to the Emergency Department. She had a serious condition called postpartum pre-eclampsia, which can lead to brain damage, stroke and death if left untreated. Samantha was to make a full recovery. She’s also is a Black woman, and in the United States, pregnant Black women are three times more likely than white women to die as a result of pregnancy.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found 80% of maternal deaths between 2017 and 2019 were due to preventable causes, and many of the deaths occurred within the first year after giving birth. The statistics are behind the new OSF program that was launched under the umbrella of a state-funded program called the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative.

Kate Johnson, clinical supervisor for Digital Care at OSF, says 970 women with Medicaid insurance have signed up for the pregnancy and postpartum program since it was launched in August. Currently, nearly 500 women are actively enrolled. Johnson says pregnant women, especially those who have a lack of resources, are eager to have the 24/7 connection offered through an app they can download on their smart phone or tablet

“It provides check-in questions, routine questions, like ‘Are they having any signs of infection, UTI symptoms? Are they struggling with breastfeeding; having any depression symptoms?’ And if they answer in any kind of an alarming way, that lets our nurses know right away … sends them an alert, and we're able to contact those patients via telephone and triage if we need to.”

Women on Medicaid can self-enroll in the free program starting eight weeks into their pregnancy by going online to register. After they enroll, women will be sent a blood pressure cuff to take regular readings and the program can connect them to other equipment they might need such as a breast pump.

Women can also enroll in the postpartum program without having participated in the pregnancy support. Johnson says women will receive new education messages each week throughout their pregnancy and postpartum.

“I think the education that we provide those moms during their pregnancy is awesome because it's getting them ready to deliver their baby. So, helping them think about things like how they want to feed their baby, birth plan, pain management for their delivery, things of that nature.”

Connecting women to mental health support

The CDC study found mental health issues were among the preventable, pregnancy-related conditions that lead to higher mortality rates. Johnson says that’s why the program offers depression screening upon enrollment in the pregnancy program, and when they deliver, they have the option to enroll in the postpartum portion. For postpartum support, they can indicate the type of support they need, such as selecting whether they delivered vaginally or via C-section or if they require information on infant care.

Even though women are screened for depression in the hospital after they give birth, it’s often six weeks before they have a follow-up appointment. Johnson says that’s sometimes too late, and women too often suffer in silence.

“So, we will be screening her right upon enrollment into the postpartum loop. And then we'll do a two-or three-week check-in to make sure emotions are doing okay. There is such a huge change in emotions postpartum with the changes in your hormones and bringing a baby home plus the sleep deprivation. So, we want to be there to support them in that initial six weeks before they see their provider.”

A patient named Jane enrolled and indicated she suffered from untreated postpartum depression after her first child, which is a risk factor she could experience that with another pregnancy. Jane had messaged regularly after delivering her second child, and by her third week, made contact and told the OSF OnCall nurse she had worsening depression to the point she had suicidal and homicidal thoughts. The woman was taken to a local hospital to get help, and remained calm while waiting for the ambulance because of the connection and trust she felt with a nurse she had had regular contact with through the program.

The OSF OnCall Connect pregnancy and postpartum initiative also screens for social determinants of health – all those factors outside of a medical office, such as food insecurity, financial struggles, housing and transportation challenges, to fill the gaps that could contribute to the woman’s health and the health of their baby. Johnson shares there are common struggles.

“I think what we're seeing mostly is patients who are struggling with transportation to get to their actual OB provider appointments, so we are able to align transportation for them in most cases. Just this past weekend, we had a patient that had no car but needed a prescription. So, we aligned her with a pharmacy that delivered those medications directly to her door.”

Women with Medicaid insurance enrolled in the program have the option of being connected with a digitally-enabled community health worker who can help them navigate ongoing support from community-based organizations. Translation services are part of the support provided to make sure women get the medical care and outside resources that can help meet their social service needs met.

Video clips with Kate Johnson, clinical supervisor of Digital Care, OSF OnCall Connect

As we begin a new year at OSF HealthCare, we're reflecting on some major advancements in the way we care for patients – with significant advancements in 2022 that have allowed us to meet patients where they are physically and where they are in their health care journey. Together, OSF Innovation and OSF OnCall, our digital health division, launched initiatives that leveraged digital technologies and data for more convenient access and improved patient outcomes.. 

Those efforts are highlighted here in our  Top 10 Innovation and Digital Health stories for 2022.

It’s the worst flu season in more than a decade. That, combined with an earlier and harsher season for another common virus RSV, has prompted OSF OnCall Digital Health to launch a no-cost, at-home monitoring program for RSV.

The collaborative effort with OSF clinical outpatient and hospital leaders will not only provide comfort and supportive care for patients and parents, it can also keep infants and toddlers out of the hospital. The remote patient monitoring (RPM) program is also in response to a state public health alert about a growing lack of pediatric ICU beds due to RSV.

RSV is the number one reason for hospitalization of children under age 1 in the United States. It can lead to bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs), especially in babies.

However, Mary Stapel, MD, lead physician for Community Care for OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center says RSV can often be managed at home.

“For the more common cold type symptoms, we can recommend  conservative treatments at home: nasal saline with some suctioning, a cool mist humidifier you know, just kind of frequent, small feedings to optimize keeping that child hydrated.” 

Clinical Digital Care Supervisor Rose Smith, MSN, BSN, RN, says OSF OnCall was able to implement its 24/7 digitally enabled, at-home monitoring program for RSV quickly, because of its experience with similar efforts to help patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure. In the first week of the RSV support program, more than 70 parents and caregivers have enrolled newborns and children up to age 5. Smith says they love it.

“They love having support anytime in the day, however they want to do it – text message, phone call, anything. They can send us pictures. We've really kind of taken that to tailor what parents need to feel comfortable taking their children home, you know, from a clinic; from the hospital during the scary time with RSV.” 

OSF OnCall providers and at-home caregivers use a software application that provides education or digital prompts to report relevant signs/symptoms over 10 days. Smith says upon enrollment, parents receive a care kit for at-home use from their provider following a visit or a digital community health worker can deliver one.

“We have a pulse oximeter to monitor oxygen levels and their heart rate and then we have a thermometer and then we also provide saline spray, and then a bulb syringe. A lot of parents, when their babies are born, they use them in the hospital, but they might not know that they can use them to help relieve any secretions especially before feeding their children.”

Smith adds, it’s also important to clear the nose before a nap or bedtime.  Parents or guardians also receive step-by-step written instructions as well as a video demonstration for how to use what’s provided in the kit.

The OnCall RSV RPM program is for anyone in Illinois or Michigan. Patients must have a positive RSV test or an RSV diagnosis to qualify. Referrals can be made by providers in a hospital emergency department, OSF OnCall Urgent Care, OSF PromptCare, medical offices, or following hospital discharge.

Smith says parents who have a child in the program can request a video visit at any time. The nursing staff will also recommend a video visit if needed.

“If they think their child looks off, we just have another set of eyes. The providers will look at it (to see if they need higher level of care). Sometimes our nurses can tell the parents you know, ‘We think they need to be seen. Can we do a video visit just before you take your child out especially now that it's colder out?’ You know, we don't want them if they're having trouble breathing to go outside, but we really just focus on what works best to still get them the care that they need.” 

Respiratory-related complaints made up half of all hospital emergency department visits at OSF in November, totaling 9,383 patients. Nearly 40% of those were infants and children.

At OSF HealthCare and across the country, there is concern that indoor holiday gatherings could accelerate the transmission of RSV, the flu and COVID-19, spreading hospitals and their staff thin. Some pediatric groups have been urging the federal government to declare a public health emergency in response to the surge in RSV and other respiratory illnesses. Dr. Stapel, says the three viruses have already impacted staffing across the country.

“It's not only a hard time with staffing already, but you add the holidays, you add illness, and so I think it's going to be a challenge and I think we're already doing this here, but I think preparing for what that surge, ongoing surge with staffing, and what surge capacity looks like … it's an important thing for every institution.” 

If you suspect your child has symptoms of RSV that don’t appear life-threatening, you can reach out to your pediatrician or primary care provider.

Video clips with Dr. Mary Stapel, lead physician for Community Care for OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center 

Video clips with nurse Rose Smith, Clinical Digital Care supervisor

B-roll for emote monitoring for infants-children with RSV

The Digital Health Most Wired survey and recognition program serves as a comprehensive “Digital Health Check-up” for health care organizations across the world. The annual survey assesses how effectively core and advanced technologies are applied to improve health care.

Among the more than 38,000 organizations surveyed by CHIME, OSF HealthCare ranked above peers in categories like analytics and data management, population health, infrastructure, and patient engagement.

Participants receive certification based on their overall performance, with level 10 being the highest. This year OSF HealthCare is honored to be Level 9 certified in Ambulatory Care technology and Level 9 certified in Acute Care technology. This is a marked achievement; OSF HealthCare is one of only 88 organizations that achieved level 9 or 10 in Acute Care, and one of only 77 organizations to reach that level in Ambulatory Care. OSF has seen its certification levels rise across all 15 hospitals, advancing from a Level 7 in both categories in 2019 to today’s achievements of Level 9.

“We are elated to earn Digital Health Most Wired recognition for both our hospitals and clinics for the eleventh straight year. Achieving Level 9, across the entire continuum of care, places OSF in elite company,” said David Hall, MD, senior vice president of information systems and chief information officer for OSF HealthCare. “This honor highlights the hard work of our analysts, technicians, clinicians and innovators, and is a fitting recognition of OSF HealthCare’s commitment to rapid transformation in the digital health care space, allowing us to provide the greatest, most innovative care possible for our patients and those we serve.”

Each participating organization received a customized benchmarking report, an overall score and scores for individual levels in eight segments: infrastructure; security; business/disaster recovery; administrative/supply chain; analytics/data management; interoperability/population health; patient engagement; and clinical quality/safety.

This is the fifth year that CHIME has conducted the survey and overseen the program. In each successive year, CHIME has expanded the survey to capture more types of organizations that serve patients across the continuum of care.

For more information about the CHIME Digital Health Most Wired program, please go here.     

OSF HealthCare joined today with Bradley University to announce an expansion of the Bradley-OSF HealthCare Strategic Alliance. The new Innovation for Health (IFH) partnership is aimed at generating scholarly research that can translate into practical solutions to improve individual and community health.

Designed to create a robust, collaborative research community, the new agreement is between employees at two of Peoria’s largest and most impactful nonprofit institutions: Bradley University and OSF HealthCare. Significantly, Bradley will be the first private university to enter into a formalized research partnership with OSF HealthCare. The two anchor institutions have a shared history within the Peoria community; Lydia Moss Bradley was instrumental to the founding of both organizations.

The IFH partnership will connect faculty scholars from Bradley’s five colleges with clinical researchers through OSF Innovation Labs and other OSF HealthCare providers to address health care challenges within and beyond the greater Peoria area. OSF Innovation is an arm of OSF HealthCare, comprised of designers, engineers, data scientists, performance improvement specialists and other experts who work tirelessly to find the best ideas that will bring the greatest value to patients and communities. The formalized relationship will leverage Bradley’s expertise in the health and natural sciences. It will also create opportunities for Bradley University faculty in business, engineering, education, computer science, interactive media, communications, the humanities, the social sciences, and other areas to contribute to solutions-based research focused on the social determinants of health (factors influencing health outside of a medical setting), rural health, and dimensions of cancer treatment and prevention.

Financial support

The OSF-Bradley agreement commits $1 million for each of the next five years to provide annual funding opportunities in the fall and spring for innovative, interdisciplinary projects addressing important health care challenges. The first request for proposals with awards up to $50,000 will be announced soon.

“We believe expanding academic collaborations can assist OSF HealthCare with breakthrough innovations, including new medical devices, digital solutions, improved work processes and new service models,” said CEO of OSF HealthCare Bob Sehring. “Bradley University is a natural partner because of its proximity to our headquarters, but more importantly, because we can tap into the expertise and ideas incubated and accelerated through Bradley’s Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation as well as the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, also housed at the university.”

“For OSF HealthCare, the expanded partnership will support the needs of researchers, medical educators, clinicians and most importantly, patients,” added John Vozenilek, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, OSF Innovation and Digital Health. “We’ll now have additional resources and a formal process to focus strategically on ideas and novel approaches to impact medical education and simulation, prevention and treatment significantly. Additionally, we’re excited about the prospects of developing digital health solutions and novel approaches to improve access to quality patient care and to reduce health care costs, which is vitally important, particularly for our most vulnerable populations.”

The newly signed agreement comes as Bradley University celebrates 125 years of giving students practical skills to contribute to the modern world as founder Lydia Moss Bradley desired. Given Bradley’s strong commitment to experiential learning, the partnership will also allow faculty to engage their talented students in impactful applied research. Conceivably, students could participate in projects that encompass a variety of disciplines, such as nursing, data security, game design and development, health literacy, psychology, social work and biomedical engineering.

Bradley University President Stephen Standifird, PhD, said expanded collaboration supports the Bradley mission and strategic plan. It also should improve the pipeline and recruitment of future employees for both institutions.

“We want to foster innovation and creativity through collaboration and build powerful alliances that can help each organization,” said Standifird. “Bradley’s faculty represent curious, industrious and socially conscious individuals who have an entrepreneurial mind-set. Together, we can explore solutions to some pressing needs in health care. In addition, our strategic plan embraces the contributions of each of our colleges and units. They can facilitate learning experiences for our students that will benefit the broader Bradley community while advancing thought-provoking, practical, and interdisciplinary scholarship.”

Blazing  a Trail

A Trailblazer Challenge will be the first effort under the Innovation for Health or “IFH” umbrella, crowdsourcing ideas for later development, while serving as a catalyst for building a connection between Bradley faculty, OSF clinicians and members of the innovation team.

Christopher Jones, PhD, vice president for strategy and innovation at Bradley University, said faculty are poised to make significant contribution to solutions that’ll make a difference, not only for health care in Peoria, but for health systems throughout the country and beyond.

“Peoria has been at the epicenter of some amazing developments such as mass production of life-saving penicillin,” said Jones. “This collaborative work could also serve as an economic engine, potentially generating intellectual property the two institutions can share, as well as new opportunities that align with the goals of Peoria BioMade, Distillery Labs, Peoria Next and other entities advancing discovery, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in the region.”

The agreement provides opportunities for Bradley alumni and other community stakeholders to contribute financially or offer their talents for research, pilots and prototypes that ultimately could attract additional resources through local, state and federal grant dollars.

As a testimony of their visionary philanthropy and as a reflection of their ongoing commitment to innovative health care, Kevin and Lisa Schoeplein and OSF HealthCare Foundation have worked together to create the Kevin and Lisa Schoeplein Innovation Endowment. This will help fund collaborative work with Bradley University, including the best projects emerging from Trailblazer Challenges.

Bradley University affiliate faculty member and director of the OSF Innovation Design Lab, Scott Barrows, is excited about having a reliable source of funding to spur ongoing collaborative research.

“We have seen the importance of health literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to expand options to reach those who can be easily influenced by disinformation and misinformation,” stressed Barrows. “This agreement will accelerate and expand our capabilities to advance community health education, and to develop and test solutions that improve health outcomes in Greater Peoria and Central Illinois.”

The Innovation for Health partnership is built upon successful models. Since 2014, OSF has partnered with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) to fund 124 research projects with grants totaling $8.3 million. Those Jump ARCHES efforts are aimed at improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs. In 2021, OSF formalized a research partnership and made a significant financial commitment with the University of Illinois Chicago through the Community Health Advocacy (CHA) grant program to address health and wellness challenges in urban communities.

Video clips with Bob Sehring, Steve Standifird, Chris Jones and Dr. John Vozenilek

Signing B-roll

A year ago, 84-year-old Jim Stickelmaier of Metamora almost died from a series of heart attacks. His wife Karen, a former nurse, had to talk him into going to the emergency department at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. It was a close call but doctors were able to save him. In late July, Stickelmaier had another scary health threat. One morning, his breathing became so labored that he didn’t resist when Karen called an ambulance to rush him to the hospital.

Stickelmaier had COVID-19-related pneumonia. X-rays showed fluid on both sides of his lungs, a telltale sign of congestive heart failure. But, with treatment, Stickelmaier responded well and was quickly stabilized.

It turns out he was a perfect candidate for the new OSF OnCall Digital Hospital program that provides supportive hospital-level care, but at home. Stickelmaier was the first patient admitted to the recently launched program and he’s a believer.

“I had my own bed to be in. I have my easy chair to sit in. I have my wife and my daughter with me to keep me company and they didn't have to worry about driving through all the traffic. It was really a good deal.” 

Paul Moots, MD, medical director of OSF OnCall Digital Hospital, says the program currently only involves select patients seen in the OSF Saint Francis Emergency Department (ED). Candidates have to be 18 or older, live within 30 minutes of the hospital and have Medicare as their insurer.

Dr. Moots explains patients will typically have conditions that might require a three or four day hospital stay, such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – nothing that would require a lot of medical interventions.

Think of it as a return to the house call – only with a lot more equipment and meal delivery. A special team outfitted Stickelmaier’s living room with portable oxygen (in case he needed it), a tablet for video calls and electronic bracelet he wore for safety and instant contact with his care team. There were also Bluetooth devices to monitor vital signs that sent data automatically into his electronic medical record.

Equipment is set up based on the patient’s unique needs. Dr. Moots says the standard set-up offers safety and comfort through constant connectivity.

“The patient will have a personal safety device that will allow them to contact the command center, even if they’re not able to reach the phone. We’ll have a back-up electricity device in their home and we’ll have internet connectivity provided by the digital hospital.” 

Software at the OSF OnCall Digital Hospital command center in downtown Peoria can identify potential candidates so ED doctors at OSF Saint Francis don’t have to. Cassie Worrick, an advanced practice provider (APP) who helped screen Stickelmaier in the ED and cared for him at home, says she uses screening tools to evaluate a patient’s ability to manage the in-home care instructions, and to know whether they have some type of nearby support.

“They do not necessarily have to have someone living with them, absolutely not. Of course, we take into account if there’s any cognitive impairment and what that might look like. Mobility issues and what that might look like. But, it’s all on an individual basis and what makes sense.” 

Before the program launched August 2, Digital Hospital operations and care teams were given a stress test of sorts during five weeks of training at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center. Worrick says the effort simulated various scenarios using specially-trained actors filling in as patients.

“OSF has done a wonderful job, setting us up for different situations, knowing how to tackle everything, so that when we had our first patient, it was really smooth which, I think was from practicing all the ‘what ifs.’”

Each patient’s personalized schedule outlines days and times for in-home visits from the care team, such as a physical therapist, a nurse to deliver IV fluids and when needed, a night nurse to check on the patient. Worrick says APPs try to accommodate the patient’s lifestyle so, when possible, the care team schedules visits around a patient’s sleep schedule and favorite activities.

Karen Stickelmaier felt relieved not being entirely responsible for her husband’s care. Instead, OSF OnCall caregivers provided an IV and other medication, and they made sure Jim received breathing treatments as prescribed. The couple welcomed the frequent visits from his care team members who called before they came in-person and who made sure it was a good time for a virtual visit with the physician overseeing Jim’s care.

“I'm pleased to say that we had such a remarkable group of people that come in here and they were so happy. You know, and we were happy. We were looking forward to (sic) … if they said they were going to come at 2:30, they were out here changing into their, you know, everything (protective clothing). So they could come in here and we really enjoyed just having them here. They did a wonderful job.”

How hospital care at home began

The early work for the Digital Hospital program started as part of a Trailblazer challenge for OSF Mission Partners (employees) who researched more advanced home care as an idea to improve a patient’s experience and recovery. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and OSF Innovation used that research to quickly set up and scale a program to reduce the stress on hospital capacity and medical providers. It also allowed monitoring and treatment for people in their homes. In the first three months, OSF was among the few health systems in the country with a program that leveraged technology and cared for more than 100 patients without forcing them to seek treatment for COVID-19 at a medical clinic or hospital.

Suzanne Hinderliter, director of Digital Care Development for OSF OnCall, said that rapid rollout provided valuable insights.

“We learned a lot about taking care of patients in the home and how valuable it was to meet the patients in their home and give them care where they were, make them feel comfortable and safe and provide a really good experience, help them manage their care because in the end, these patients are going to need to manage themselves and manage their care and their chronic diseases and medications throughout the rest of their life. And so we're there to help make that possible in their home to ensure that we're decreasing any barriers that they have.” 

Later in the pandemic, the federal government recognized the benefit of offering hospital-level care at home and designed regulations and reimbursement for the services provided under Medicare. OSF eventually paused its novice program to allow OSF Innovation to research and validate the best technology and support service providers such as Boston-based Medically Home – a leader in care-at-home programs. Innovation teams worked with OSF OnCall leaders to coordinate pharmacy needs, meal service and delivery, imaging and transportation, along with diagnostic tools and monitoring.

Looking to create a high-tech, high-touch effort, OSF designed a robust Digital Hospital initiative to meet or surpass new regulations and launched the reimagined program.

Hinderliter says telehealth leaders continue encouraging federal lawmakers to support legislation to ensure the program’s future. Meanwhile, OSF OnCall leaders continue planning to extend Digital Hospital care to other patients, including those recovering from surgery, as it also considers expanding a Digital Hospital program for other hospitals within the OSF Ministry.

“I think we've invested in this as a program moving forward and knowing that this is going to be valuable in the way of the future,” says Hinderliter. “We always have to be looking at the next thing and how can we make the care better for our patients? How can we take care of patients in a different way?”

Research shows patients recover faster, and there are fewer hospital re-admissions and hospital-acquired infections with Digital Hospital programs. Plus, its estimated hospitals can save up to 30% in costs, which could translate to lower bills for patients. At the very least, individuals who qualify can receive the same high-quality care and better sleep than in a hospital.

Jim Stickelmaier agrees and says being at home is the best medicine he could receive.

“I would say definitely try it. I think they’ll find out that it was a lot easier and a lot nicer to be at home than in the hospital.” 

Jim and Karen Stickelmaier, the first Digital Hospital patient

Dr. Paul Moots, medical director of OSF OnCall Digital Hospital, Cassie Worrick, APP Digital Hospital, Suzanne Hinderliter, director of Digital Care Development for OSF OnCall

Digital Hospital B-roll

Targeted text reminders and other interventions erased disparity in the rate of breast cancer screening between economically advantaged and disadvantaged patients, according to an OSF HealthCare study published in Population Health Management.

While screening has been shown to reduce breast cancer deaths, women who are economically disadvantaged are less likely to have breast cancer screening and more likely to die of the disease, often because the breast cancer isn’t detected until it reaches a more advanced stage. Mammography screening rates plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which only increased the disparity between economically advantaged and disadvantaged patients.

OSF HealthCare researchers analyzed the effectiveness of interventions created and supported by the OSF OnCall digital health team to reduce that disparity, with: text messages that included a link to schedule a mammogram and information about the importance of breast cancer screening; calls from a digitally-enabled community health worker (CHW) to help schedule mammograms and solve challenges such as transportation; and an invitation to a health fair offering on-site mammograms. Breast cancer screening rates more than doubled among Medicaid patients who received interventions.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend annual mammography for most women beginning at 40 and earlier for women at higher risk for breast cancer.

 “Previous studies have found that similar interventions help increase the rate of breast cancer screening, but not whether they would reduce disparities among different populations,” said Jonathan A. Handler, MD, FACEP, FAMIA, senior author of the study and senior fellow, OSF Innovation at OSF HealthCare.

The study included more than 4,000 women in two groups: an economically disadvantaged group (those with Medicaid coverage), and an economically advantaged group (those with private commercial insurance). All were 41 or older, were aligned with an OSF primary care physician and appeared to be overdue for their mammogram – typically by two years or more. All with Medicaid were randomly assigned to one of three intervention arms and compared with a subset of commercially insured women randomized to receive no intervention

All in the Medicaid group received the first intervention (at least one text message reminder). The moderate intervention arm also received additional educational content, a reminder text after a mammogram was scheduled, and phone outreach by a CHW to answer questions, assist with scheduling a mammogram, and address other issues related to the screening. The third arm had all of those interventions, and also received an invitation to a health fair where attendees could participate in interactive educational activities, schedule a mammogram or receive a same-day mammogram at the health center after attending the event.

In the Medicaid group, the rate of mammogram screening more than doubled following the interventions, from 5.4% to 11% of eligible patients. Interventions targeted only to the Medicaid group reversed the disparity in screening rates. Before interventions, the Medicaid group had 2.6% lower breast cancer screening rate than those with private insurance. After the interventions, the Medicaid group’s screening rate was 3.7% higher than those with commercial insurance who had been randomly assigned to receive no intervention.

Medicaid covers mammograms

Researchers determined Medicaid participants who had moderate to maximum intervention had a significant improvement in screening rates. Many in this group were reluctant to get a mammogram because of the expense until learning from a CHW that appropriate screening is covered by Medicaid.

Screening rates also increased after intervention among privately-insured women who were assigned to intervention arms. Therefore, researchers said economically disadvantaged women might require more intense intervention than their economically advantaged counterparts, with private insurance, to close the disparity gap moving forward.

“The goal is equity in health outcomes, not always standardization of an intervention or what we think of as equality. So it’s vital to strategically implement interventions among patients who would most benefit,” said Sarah Stewart de Ramirez, MD, MPH, principal investigator of the study, medical director for Population Health Services at OSF HealthCare, and associate dean for Population Health Equity Innovation at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. “For example, we found that simply providing interventions such as a text message equally to the entire patient population might actually widen that disparity, because economically advantaged patients have fewer hurdles to access care and therefore are more likely to be able to act on those reminders.” 

Dr. de Ramirez added, “Ultimately, we hope to find an engagement approach that achieves equity while also improving screening rates for all women. It’s imperative that we continue to study new population based interventions so we can apply them with the same science as clinical interventions, and ensure our patient populations receive the highest level of care, wherever they are.”

The study was funded by the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois.

Visit osfhealthcare/innovation to learn more about how OSF HealthCare is working to transform health care.

Sample of video message for education efforts

Sometimes seeing is believing. That’s why OSF HealthCare and its partner for its Acute Hospital Care at Home program (AHCAH) will provide federal lawmakers with an in-person demonstration of how acute care, provided at home, is safe, cost-effective and valued by patients.

OSF OnCall Digital Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Matt Gorman and Chris Manson, vice president for Government Relations for OSF HealthCare were joined by leaders from partner Medically Home in visiting with lawmakers over two days (May 18-19)  to explain the value of the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (S.3792/H.R. 7053) which would allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive acute-level health care services in their home for two years beyond the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic health emergency (PHE).

Vice President of Digital Care for OSF OnCall, Brandi Clark says OSF launched an acute care at home pilot in May of 2020 in an effort to ease hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark says the effort showed hospital-level care can be delivered safely and effectively at home.

“We achieved great outcomes and the patients absolutely loved it. They were able to get the care where they were comfortable in their homes, with the families and their children and their pets around them and we were able to deliver that care at a lower cost while allowing our system to keep those patients in the hospital who really, truly needed to be there.” 

Clark says extending the waiver that allows for the AHCAH programs will encourage hospitals and health systems to initiate or continue investment in this model of care, knowing it can be sustained with government reimbursements for hospital-level services at home. Clark says OSF leaders are convinced this approach represents the future of lower-cost, patient-centered health care that offers patients everything they would expect during a hospital stay.

“From providing meals to the patients, drawing their labs, even things like X-ray are able to be provided in the patient’s home.” 

OSF HealthCare medical providers were educated on the process to understand the concept that goes beyond traditional home care to offer more extensive services paired with 24/7 monitoring and accessibility.

Dr. Gorman says some acute care at home programs were launched even before the pandemic. Peer-reviewed studies, comparing patients hospitalized at home with those who received brick and mortar care show that patients at home – including those from varying socioeconomic backgrounds – had fewer re-admissions and returns to the emergency department and better patient reported outcomes and satisfaction.

“CMS started a demonstration three years prior to COVID and really showed benefits. What this really showed was people recover faster and have fewer readmissions which is significant; and people just do better at home.” 

OSF HealthCare and partner Medically Home will set up a simulation of acute care at home with trained actors in a hotel near the nation’s capitol building in Washington D.C. Dr. Gorman expects the experience will let lawmakers see first-hand patient care and support delivered through home visits, paired with a 24/7 digital care command center.

“That it is the ICU, it is the maternity ward, it is the general medical bed. For some who are healthy, they may not have been in the hospital for 20 years so they lose touch with it (inpatient care). So this is an opportunity for us to educate our legislators about what today’s modern health care is.” 

The bipartisan bill OSF HealthCare and other hospital systems are backing would require that within one year of enactment, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issue regulations establishing health and safety requirements for AHCAH programs. Dr. Gorman says that’ll position the entire health care ecosystem to have policies and procedures in place to be better prepared for the next public health emergency.

“We’re going to be well suited and situated for the next whatever it is - whether it’s another COVID wave or whether it’s another virus - and so that allows us to have more capacity within our health care system which allows us to care for patients safer and more effectively.” 

Anyone interested in seeing acute care at home continue beyond the pandemic is encouraged to contact their federal legislators to ask them to support the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act.

Video clips with Brandi Clark, vice president of Digital Care for OSF OnCall

Video clips with Dr. Matt Gorman, chief medical officer, OSF OnCall Digital Health

B-roll Hospital at Home