Atrium Health, a major Charlotte, NC-based health system, announced on Monday that it now offers a complete array of virtual care capabilities, from primary care and specialty care to hospital care and home care, as part of its newly launched Atrium Health Virtual Edge offering.
“We realized years ago that there were cost factors, convenience factors and access issues that could be improved upon through advancements in virtual care delivery,” said Scott Rissmiller, M.D., executive vice president and chief physician executive for Atrium Health, in a press statement. “With dozens of rural hospitals closing their doors, we recognized that we could extend the reach of our renowned clinicians to help more people through virtual care.”
“Virtual health is no longer a nice-to-have or an augmentation of care,” he added. “It is an essential and necessary way of clinical care delivery and customer service for any healthcare system. It allows us to deliver affordable, accessible care for all. Clinically appropriate and timely care is provided in the place most convenient and beneficial for the patient — close to home or in the home — and, because it’s virtual, it removes many of the barriers to access that exist in both rural and underserved communities.”
Atrium Health provides care under the Wake Forest Baptist Health name in the Winston-Salem, NC, region and Navicent Health in Georgia.With 42 hospitals and 1,500 care locations across the Carolinas and Georgia, Atrium Health logs more than 15 million patient interactions annually.
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
