Hospital Support

A picture of a woman in the hospital getting tested by physician via telehealth.

Description

Hospital Support programs are crucial to the viability and prosperity of our South Carolina hospitals. Through partnerships with urban SC hospitals, our rural community hospitals can provide local patients with high-quality specialty care through telehealth. This statewide collaboration allows patients to remain close to home for care, reducing barriers and increasing access. Learn more about this strategy.

Example Services

  • Tele-ICU
  • Hospitalist Rounding
  • Neonatal Nurseries Rounding
  • Inpatient Specialty Tele-Consultations including:
    • Stroke and Neurology
    • Infectious Disease
    • Psychiatry
    • Palliative Care
    • Cardiology
    • Pulmonology 

Callouts

  • Committed to providing enhanced patient care at the community level, our partners at Prisma Health expanded its Virtual Intensive Care Unit (eICU) services in 2022 to several hospitals in the upstate region of SC. In collaboration with Prisma Health ICU teams, board-certified intensive care physicians and critical care nurses provide around the clock virtual monitoring of ICU patients to provide seamless integrated care. With great success, the eICU program anticipates further expansion to additional Prisma Health community hospitals in the near future.
  • The SC Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) provides accessible mental healthcare 18 hours per day, 365 days per year through its Emergency Department Telepsychiatry program. With 26 partnering hospitals across the state, this program provided over 8,650 telepsychiatry consultations throughout 2022. The ongoing collaboration among SCDMH, SC hospitals, and SC providers enhances opportunities to further expand specialized mental health care to our communities.
  • The Medical University of South Carolina’s (MUSC) robust set of hospital support programs provided over 10,500 inpatient consultations across 46 supported hospitals in SC throughout 2022.
  • MUSC’s critical care team continued to partner with 9 community hospitals to provide an extra level of around the clock expert care to intensive care patients through its Tele-ICU program. In 2022, over 11,700 patients were virtually monitored while in the ICU.
  • The SC tele-stroke and tele-neurology network now covers 96% of SC, allowing EVERY citizen in SC to seek expert stroke care in less than 1 hour.
  • 69 SCTA Supported Hospitals & Freestanding Emergency Departments in SC.