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As one of the nation’s top 10 health care organizations, Advocate Health Care wanted to update and expand its use of videoconferencing technology to reduce business travel requirements and improve patient care outcomes throughout geographically dispersed hospital locations. After a competitive search, Burwood Group was selected for its proven ability to deploy new technologies in complex healthcare settings.

The Challenge: Expand videoconferencing capabilities

As the largest integrated healthcare system in Illinois, Advocate operates more than 250 administrative and patient care facilities across the state. It had already adopted the use of videoconferencing within its own communications network, but wanted to expand its capabilities to include external sites. Burwood Group was tasked with expanding Advocate’s current videoconferencing capabilities; ensuring endpoint functionality; and promoting end user adoption. 

The Solution: Update Cisco Telepresence with Forward-Looking Infrastructure 

Burwood Group integrated Advocate’s Cisco Telepresence videoconferencing system with new infrastructure to facilitate external communications. In addition, Burwood Group incorporated Cisco Jabber to allow remote participants to attend video conferences via laptop computer. The expanded infrastructure now includes 15 sites with more than 30 connected endpoint devices from which videoconferencing can be initiated. Although Burwood Group was initially retained to simply expand the videoconferencing infrastructure and improve access across the Advocate system, the increased level of engagement has transformed the partnership and there are now a growing number of tele-healthcare pilot projects. Several pilot programs are underway to test best practices for videoconferencing among caregivers and administrators, with plans for future pilots to focus on patient-caregiver communications. 

The Outcome: Better Connectivity for Improved Clinical Workflow 

Expanded videoconferencing capabilities are enabling Advocate senior managers to reduce the time and expense of cross-state travel. Burwood Group is helping Advocate incorporate videoconferencing as a clinical collaboration tool, developing appropriate clinical workflows, training and development programs. With expanded videoconferencing capabilities, Advocate can continue its Health Care Ministry to improve patient outcomes with telehealth services in diverse healthcare settings, including neighborhood health centers and underserved communities.

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