Teladoc Health Expands AI Capabilities for Hospitals and Health Systems with Advanced Virtual Sitter Solution

Rhea-AI Summary

Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC) has launched enhanced AI capabilities for its Virtual Sitter solution to improve patient safety in hospitals. The new technology enables a single remote staff member to monitor up to 25% more patients, addressing the critical issue of hospital falls, which affect nearly 1 million patients annually and cost approximately $50 billion in medical expenses. The AI-enabled system uses advanced algorithms, motion detection, and pose estimation to detect potentially dangerous patient movements, allowing faster intervention. The solution runs on Teladoc's TV Pro devices using local processing for enhanced security and performance.

Positive

• AI enhancement allows 25% increase in patient monitoring capacity per staff member
• Addresses $50 billion annual medical cost problem related to hospital falls
• Technology improves operational efficiency and staff utilization
• Local processing enhances security of Protected Health Information

Negative

• None.

Insights

Healthcare Technology Analyst

The enhanced Virtual Sitter solution represents a significant technological advancement in hospital patient monitoring, addressing a $50 billion annual cost burden from patient falls. The AI-enabled system's ability to increase monitoring capacity by 25% per staff member directly impacts operational efficiency and cost reduction.

The edge computing implementation for PHI security and the pre-trained algorithms for motion detection demonstrate mature technology integration. However, the real value proposition lies in the dual benefit of reducing staffing pressures while improving patient safety outcomes. This development strengthens TDOC's competitive position in the hospital solutions market, particularly as healthcare facilities face ongoing workforce challenges.

While promising, revenue impact will depend on adoption rates and pricing strategy. The solution's integration with existing Teladoc infrastructure suggests favorable deployment economics, but market penetration will be gradual as hospitals evaluate ROI against current monitoring solutions.

New artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities help hospitals and health systems deliver safer and more efficient care

PURCHASE, NY, Nov. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC), the global leader in virtual care, announced today the launch of new AI-enabled capabilities to enhance its Virtual Sitter solution to improve patient safety, address workforce challenges, and enhance care delivery for hospitals and health systems.

Every year, nearly 1 million hospitalized patients experience falls, with more than 30% resulting in lasting injuries. According to the CDC, falls result in approximately $50 billion of medical costs each year, and put additional strain on hospitals.

Teladoc Health’s Virtual Sitter solution helps address this critical issue. Leveraging AI, a single remote staff member can now monitor up to 25% more patients, helping to increase the capacity of healthcare inpatient teams. This latest innovation builds on Teladoc Health’s broader suite of inpatient connected care solutions, which support virtual nursing, physician consults, interpretive services, and other hybrid care services that help reduce the administrative burden on bedside staff and improve both clinician and patient satisfaction.

“For more than a decade, we’ve pioneered new ways for technology to support human interaction in patient care, helping hospitals and health systems transform care delivery and meet their most pressing challenges,” said Andy Puterbaugh, Teladoc Health President of Hospitals and Health Systems. “New applications of AI are now accelerating our impact, supporting continuous improvement of our fully integrated suite of connected care solutions, including Virtual Sitter.”

Using advanced, pre-trained algorithms, motion detection and pose estimation, the expanded solution can visually detect patient movement that could lead to falls, enabling faster intervention by bedside staff. Integrated within Teladoc Health’s TV Pro devices, the technology runs on the edge, using local processing power to improve the security of Protected Health Information (PHI) and system performance.

The AI-enabled Virtual Sitter solution is now commercially available and is already being implemented with select clients. To learn more about Teladoc Health’s expanded Virtual Sitter solution, click here. For more information about Teladoc Health’s integrated virtual care solutions for hospitals and health systems, click here.

About Teladoc Health

Teladoc Health empowers all people everywhere to live their healthiest lives by transforming the healthcare experience. As the world leader in whole-person virtual care, Teladoc Health uses proprietary health signals and personalized interactions to drive better health outcomes across the full continuum of care, at every stage in a person’s health journey. Teladoc Health leverages more than two decades of expertise and data-driven insights to meet the growing virtual care needs of consumers and healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit www.teladochealth.com.

Contact 
Lou Serio  
PR@teladochealth.com  
+1 202-569-9715

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f2f56c05-a92a-4978-84d1-ffb7e2931f04

FAQ

What new AI capabilities did Teladoc (TDOC) announce for its Virtual Sitter solution?

Teladoc announced AI capabilities that enable motion detection and pose estimation to detect patient movements that could lead to falls, allowing a single remote staff member to monitor 25% more patients.

How much do hospital falls cost annually according to Teladoc's (TDOC) announcement?

According to the CDC data cited in Teladoc's announcement, hospital falls result in approximately $50 billion in medical costs annually.

How does Teladoc's (TDOC) new AI-enabled Virtual Sitter protect patient data?

The solution runs on Teladoc's TV Pro devices using local edge processing power to improve the security of Protected Health Information (PHI) and system performance.