Achieving the Triple Aim in Critical Care Using Advanced IT and Business Strategy at Emory

Dr. Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD, MCCM, Director Emory Critical Care Center, and Cheryl Hiddleson, MSN, RN, CCRN-E, Director Emory eICU Center. There is a shortage of critical care providers in the United States. Finding new ways of utilizing existing resources to provide high quality care to larger populations is essential for filling the gap found between demand and availability of these highly trained providers. Emory Healthcare took on the challenge by developing a dual program incorporating training of NPs and PAs in critical care while providing real-time surveillance monitoring and immediate access to intensivist guided interventions via a remote teleICU platform. This solution has yielded better outcomes for patients, families and staff in the ICUs with an associated decrease in Medicare spending for those patients served by the Emory eICU. Burnout in critical care providers is on the rise and seeking potential solutions to ensure retention of those valuable clinicians is another focus for Dr. Buchman and Cheryl. They also discuss how they decided to “Turn Night into Day” by relocating clinicians to the other side of the world so they could provide nighttime care to Emory eICU patients during daytime hours in Sydney, Australia.