PROFILE: Health Care that Zooms: In Home, On Demand Acute Care
Click the player above to listen to the 30 minute #ChangeAgentChat, hosted by CIVHC’s Chief Medical Officer, Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD.
Launched in 2013, DispatchHealth is a Denver-based company reimagining acute care by modernizing the house call and helping patients get the right care, at the right time, in the comfort of their home. Their mission is to provide righteous health care through the power of technology, convenience and service; thereby increasing access to care, improving the quality of care and delivering the best acute care experience that a patient has ever encountered.
Project Summary: DispatchHealth works as an extension of primary, specialty, and home care by delivering simple to complex medical treatment in the convenience of the home. Using different mediums including a free mobile app, website, and telephone, patients, clinicians, and care givers can request on-demand care. 
When a care request comes in a member of the clinical team will reach out to the patient to learn more about their symptoms to make sure that DispatchHealth is an appropriate resource for them. If DispatchHealth is appropriate, they then assign a medical team and give an ETA to the patient. On average, the medical team will arrive on scene within an hour and a half to treat a patient.
The medical team for each patient includes an ER trained Nurse Practitioner (NP) or a Physician Assistant (PA), an Emergency Medical Technician driving their “rover” and supporting the PA/NP for efficiency and safety. Additionally, there is always a DispatchHealth ER doc on-call for consultation if needed. The medical team is generally on scene with a patient for over 45 minutes and has the capabilities to:
- Provide point of care lab testing
- Conduct rapidinfectious disease testing
- Start and deliver IV fluids for dehydration
- Deliver IV antibiotics and IV medications such as anti-emetics, steroids, diuretics
- Treat urinary retention or urinary tract infections
- Suture or staple wound lacerations
- Provide nebulizer treatments for breathing problems
- Splint wrist or ankle sprains
Benefit to Colorado: Adoption of a new model of care is always a challenge and DispatchHealth has worked hard to earn the respect of partners and patients by demonstrating good clinical outcomes, cost savings, and great experiences. Since inception, DispatchHealth has been involved in over 15,000 patient encounters and saved well over 20 million dollars in unnecessary 911 transports, unnecessary ER visits and hospitalizations. They have also demonstrated tremendous clinical outcomes and improved the health of seniors by redefining the acute care patient experience and allowing them to age in place.
Click here to read Dispatch Health’s white paper: Redefining On-Demand Care in Senior Populations