North Shore Health announces new Virtual Hospitalist Services

North Shore Health (NSH) in Grand Marais announced that they have successfully launched their new virtual hospitalist services with provider, Horizon Virtual.

Until recently, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic (SMC) provided inpatient, swing bed and observation services to NSH patients. In April, SMC announced that their physicians would soon focus on clinic primary care and would discontinue providing the aforementioned services as of July 1, 2023.

To continue to provide these services without interruption, NSH conducted thorough research on a variety of options. In early May, NSH announced to their leadership team that they had committed to enter into a contract with St. Cloud, MN-based virtual hospitalist provider, Horizon Virtual. Horizon Virtual purchased a state-of-the-art telemedicine cart and associated technologies for NSH. With that equipment installed by mid-June, NSH began to test, educate and train their staff with the new virtual hospitalists.

“I am happy to confirm that we successfully launched on July 1 as planned,” said Kimber Wraalstad, NSH CEO. “Since then we have several patients admitted and everything is working well.” As with any new technology, there is a learning curve; NSH staff is working through any small hurdles to fine-tune the process. “We are thrilled with our new providers, and we think our patients will be too,” Wraalstad continued.

Some patients may not be familiar with virtual telehealth care. To put patients at ease about the transition, NSH produced a video that demonstrates a basic medical examination using the new technology. The video includes real-time doctor, nurse and patient interaction throughout the exam and diagnosis, followed by a Q&A to help answer any remaining questions. View the video here: youtu.be/q0YfnWo2WOE.

“We wanted to clarify that this new service only applies to inpatient, swing bed and observation,” said Troy Batchelor, Director of Nursing-Hospital. “All of the other services that NSH patients have been accustomed to are still available with our in-person staff.”

For further information about North Shore Health, please visit www.northshorehealthgm.org.