Key Takeaways:
- Wait for an outpatient neurology appointment dropped from months to <2 days
- 40% reduction in backlog for in-person appointments
- Improved patient satisfaction from timely evaluations, diagnoses, and treatments in the outpatient clinic
Challenge
A 96-bed hospital with an adjacent outpatient clinic needed additional neurology support. The hospital’s two neurologists on staff struggled to balance a heavy inpatient caseload with the demand for outpatient clinic appointments. As a result, local patients experienced waits of 4 months or more to see a neurologist in the hospital’s outpatient clinic.
The situation placed a significant burden on the hospital’s neurologists, created leakage for the hospital, and left many patients with no option but to seek care outside the health system, often hours away.
Solution
In August 2022, the hospital partnered with AmplifyMD to implement inpatient TeleNeurology cross-coverage and launched a new TeleNeurology outpatient clinic to expand its outpatient appointment capabilities.
Initially, the hospital piloted the program one morning a week. Within a few months, they expanded the service to five mornings per week. As demand for the program continued to grow, the clinic further extended services to a full-day schedule, Monday through Friday, beginning December 2023.
The outpatient clinic, which is staffed by a highly experienced, board-certified AmplifyMD neurologist, has improved timely evaluation, diagnoses, and treatment for patients in the outpatient setting.
Outcomes
<2
DAYS
wait for an outpatient
TeleNeurology appointment
3,350+
additional appointments
available to the community
annually
~40%
reduction in backlog
for in-person
appointments
What is the staffing model of the TeleNeurology clinic?
The hospital leveraged its existing clinic space and schedulers, along with a dedicated RN to facilitate each virtual appointment. The total operating overhead for the clinic has remained low, even as patient volumes have increased.
“Our patients appreciate every opportunity to receive their health services close to home. The virtual care clinichas added additional appointments so patients can see a specialist more quickly”
-VP Physician Services & Clinic Operations
What types of conditions can the outpatient TeleNeurology clinic address?
“There really was no difference in seeing the neurologist virtually. In fact, I feel like my care was much more personal. It was a great experience!”
-Outpatient clinic patient
Want to learn more about outpatient TeleNeurology clinics?
Contact us to see how AmplifyMD’s TeleNeurology services are helping hospitals optimize coverage, reduce operational costs, and build scalable virtual care programs.
