General Inpatient Care via Telehealth

VITAS remains a committed provider and partner during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are ready to leverage our mobility-first platform and telehealth services to ensure continued support for your patients, their families, and your facility.

From 24/7/365 care coordination and spiritual/psychosocial support, to seamless care transitions and intensive bereavement care, VITAS continues to deliver the services that you and your patients rely on, even we are unable to be physically present.

A COVID-19 Case Study

“AF” is an 87-year-old patient with cardiac disease, struggling to breathe at home. Her symptoms have progressively worsened over the last several weeks, but she is afraid to leave her home due to COVID-19.

AF’s daughter, Lena, finally takes her to the ED, where a physician recommends hospice care. AF is transferred from the ED to a contracted general inpatient bed in the hospital to received hospice care from VITAS.

For AF, the patient who remains isolated from her family:

• VITAS coordinates remotely with the hospital team to provide guidance and support on end-of-life symptom management, ensuring that AF remains comfortable, and that her goals of care (GOC), wishes, and values are discussed, identified, and honored.
• When the care plan changes, VITAS supports staff and the family on key decisions and the plan of care (e.g., initiate or discontinue ventilation).
• The VITAS hospice social worker and chaplain deliver 24/7 emotional and spiritual telehealth support to AF via phone and FaceTime.
• VITAS bereavement specialists reassure AF with a promise of up to 13 months of support for her family.

For AF’s family, unable to visit:

• VITAS updates Lena and AF’s family regularly by phone and FaceTime on AF’s care in the hospital.
• The VITAS chaplain and social worker consult with the family, helping them cope with anxiety and anticipatory grief while AF remains is isolated.
• VITAS bereavement services and community support groups provide assistance for grief that may be heightened by an inability to visit or difficulty finding closure.

For VITAS healthcare partners:

• VITAS offers group support to staff members at partner hospitals to address their heightened emotional distress following a patient’s death.
• VITAS can honor a patient’s wish to go home for end-of-life care and will arrange care transitions, including transportation, setup of equipment, supplies, and medication delivery direct to the home.

The need for hospice is constant. Our services are constant, too. Trust VITAS, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, to support your patients, families, and staff throughout this crisis and long after it’s over.