Home Health Care UPMC creates telemedicine company to address shortage of infectious disease specialists

UPMC creates telemedicine company to address shortage of infectious disease specialists

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UPMC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has formed a telemedicine company focused on infectious diseases, according to a news release.

The company, which is called Infectious Disease (ID) Connect, aims to virtually connect UPMC infectious disease specialists to other hospitals.

“With the growing threat of drug-resistant organisms and costly government penalties for healthcare-associated infections, it has never been more critical for hospitals to properly diagnose, treat and prevent such infections,” Rima Abdel-Massih, CMO of ID Connect, said in the release. “However, with ID specialists in short supply, many hospitals, especially smaller, community facilities, are struggling to meet this need. ID Connect was created to fill that gap.”

UPMC has already been providing ID services to patients via telemedicine for the past five years.

As for ID Connect, it is currently serving 10 UPMC and five non-UPMC hospitals in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Initially, it will focus on the more than 4,000 U.S. acute care hospitals with fewer than 300 beds.

“These smaller facilities face an especially difficult time recruiting and retaining already scarce ID specialists,” added Abdel-Massih. “ID Connect can cost-effectively provide ID specialists, full-time or part-time, to augment existing staff.”

Although ID Connect will originally be staffed by UPMC ID physicians, the company plans to expand to new markets and hire additional doctors to provide patient consultations and expertise in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control, noted ID Connect president David Zynn, according to the release. Eventually, he anticipates the company will serve post-acute care patients at home.

ID Connect was founded by Abdel-Massih, who serves as UPMC’s director of tele-ID services, and John Mellors, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh. The company is part of UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization and innovation arm of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Ultimately, the aims of ID Connect include improving patient outcomes, reducing patient transfers to tertiary facilities, eliminating inaccurate diagnoses and treatment and reducing readmissions.

Photo: nito100, Getty Images

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