What is the Virtual Health Center?

The UCHealth Virtual Health Center (VHC) is staffed by experienced physicians, nurses and technicians who monitor patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Centralized infrastructure works across UCHealth’s 14 hospitals and enables the seamless integration of technologies and care offerings to advance the future of health care.

  • Since its inception in 2016, the Virtual Health Center has transformed health care across UCHealth, supporting clinicians, achieving efficiencies and positively impacting patient outcomes.
  • Complex algorithms continuously evaluate a patient’s condition, and alert the Virtual Health Center when readings indicate possible problems. The Virtual Health Center team then confers with the care team at the patient’s bedside.

How Telehealth is Transforming Patient Care

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Virtual Care Transforming Patient Outcomes

Established in 2016 as a strategic approach to overcome challenges related to in-person care availability, the Virtual Health Center care team provides surveillance and monitoring for the following:

Virtual ICU
  • The Virtual Health Center performs virtual observation for surveillance of patients in an intensive care unit.
  • 24/7 Intensive Care Unit (ICU)-trained nurses provide ICU-level surveillance for up to 144 patients at a time in ICU levels of care, in partnership with virtual ICU physicians.
  • By integrating patient data with standard bedside monitor device data, the nurse in the Virtual Health Center can identify potential clinical decompensation and collaborate with bedside clinicians to initiate interventions.
Virtual Acute Surveillance
  • The Virtual Health Center’s early sepsis detection program leverages predictive models and Electronic Health Record (EHR)-embedded tools to identify and track impeding infection.
  • This program has helped reduce sepsis-related deaths by 30% for cases that were not present at the time of hospital admission.
  • The Virtual Health Center is saving more than 1,000 people a year from sepsis and other diseases, a fivefold increase from 5 years ago.
Safety View
  • The Virtual Health Center uses innovative remote video-capture technology that monitors concurrently across all hospitals in the health system focused on fall prevention.
  • 1,460 interventions are performed every day (24 hours) to help reduce patient falls and aid with patient and staff safety.
Telemetry Monitoring
  • Through the Virtual Health Center, cardiac and telemetry monitoring have been centralized to improve care coordination across Colorado.
  • Telemetry technicians can monitor up to 42 patients at a time—more than four times the capacity of the traditional decentralized hospital-based model.
Capnography Monitoring

Centralized monitoring of early detection of opiate-related respiratory depression in acute care settings.

Atención de urgencia virtual
  • Patient-facing digital urgent care platform for low-acuity complaints.
  • Home to one of the largest virtual urgent care networks in the state, UCHealth’s Virtual Urgent Care providers see 50K patients per year.
Virtual Employee Exposure
  • Our virtual care team streamlines the evaluation and management of occupational exposures and on-the-job incidents.
  • Employees can connect with trained clinicians in real time to receive guidance, documentation, and next steps, helping organizations stay compliant and keeping employees healthy.
Home & Remote Care
  • Aiding hospitals by minimizing risk and managing capacity, remote patient monitoring allows patients to be home safely while integrating data from patient wearables being monitored at the Virtual Health Center.
  • Programs include: diabetes, chronic heart failure, behavioral health, blood pressure management, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), oncology/palliative care, and Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD).
Hospital to Home
  • The Virtual Health Center post-acute monitoring supports the transition from inpatient care to the home setting with close clinical monitoring, virtual check-ins, and tailored care plans designed to prevent complications and readmissions.
  • Programs include gastric sleeve, respiratory viral illness, and post-pancreatic surgery.
Virtual Wound Care
  • Continuous vital sign monitoring for higher-risk patients can use patient level data to triage patients, maximizing the frontline team efficiencies. Consult time has been reduced by more than 72 hours. This leads to more timely care for patients and allows the frontline teams to work top of scope.
  • The wound care team is now able to dedicate approximately 40 hours per month more to proactive rounding to prevent skin breakdown.
  • The number of wound care patients seen each week increased by 40% with the same number of staff since virtual wound care was introduced.
Virtual Respiratory Therapist
  • A centralized respiratory therapist can use patient level data to triage and prioritize patients for frontline teams, maximizing the frontline team efficiencies and improving RT/ventilator related patient care and outcomes.
  • The Virtual Health Center has reduced the time patients spend on a ventilator by 1.9 days.
Virtual Nursing
  • Virtual nurses at the Virtual Health Center extend the capacity of bedside teams by completing admission documentation, conducting patient interviews, and identifying care gaps—all via secure video connection.
  • This centralized model enables consistent, high-quality documentation and timely compliance with quality measures.
Virtual Hospitalist
  • The Virtual Health Center includes a 12/7 nighttime Virtual Hospitalist that provides coverage to support patient care across multiple settings—including virtual surveillance, remote patient monitoring, and community hospitals.
  • By centralizing after-hours hospitalist coverage, the system improves efficiency, mitigates staffing challenges, and ensures high-quality, consistent care regardless of location.
Patient Technology Technician (PTT)

A newer role at UCHealth, a PTT is designed to augment frontline staff with the support of technology to provide staff more time for patient care and increase the ability for nurses and CNAs to work at the top of scope.

Virtual Quality Assurance and Safety (Q&S)
  • Operating from the Virtual Health Center and alongside local care teams, virtual and embedded RNs support real-time quality improvement across UCHealth by identifying and addressing care gaps as they happen.
  • By combining centralized oversight with unit-level presence, the Q&S team enhances standardization, accelerates intervention, and supports bedside teams in delivering high-reliability care.
ATC Healthcare (in partnership with DocLine)
  • In collaboration with DocLine, ATC Healthcare physicians support real-time capacity and capability management across all three UCHealth regions.
  • By triaging incoming DocLine calls, these physicians help ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate level of care and facility based on clinical need, acuity, and system capacity.
  • The partnership enables a more responsive, data-informed approach to regional care coordination—enhancing access, reducing strain on individual facilities, and supporting system-wide utilization.

Additional virtual health care offerings

Virtual health services at UCHealth enable exceptional care well beyond the walls of our hospitals and clinics keeping people in the comfort of their communities and homes.

Home to one of the largest virtual urgent care networks in the state, UCHealth’s Virtual Urgent Care providers see 50K patients per year.

  • Emergency Virtual Health permite a los especialistas consultar con los médicos locales de la sala de emergencias a través de videoconferencias para ayudar con emergencias específicas de pacientes, como accidentes cerebrovasculares o quemaduras.
  • UCHealth has a robust telestroke program to help hospital ED physicians across the state of Colorado and southern Wyoming treat stroke patients in record time, saving every precious brain cell possible.
  • Virtual Health allows neurology specialists to provide expert guidance to community hospital providers. These providers can now keep, and treat, many stroke patients they may not have been able to before.
  • Si un paciente necesita atención más avanzada, transportamos a ese paciente a uno de los mejores Centros Integrales de Accidentes Cerebrovasculares del país.
  • Nuestra Unidad Móvil de Tratamiento de Accidentes Cerebrovasculares, una de las primeras implementadas en el país, utiliza la salud virtual para llevar a los neurólogos directamente a la casa del paciente para comenzar el tratamiento más rápido que nunca.
  • El redondeo virtual permite a nuestros especialistas clínicos tratar virtualmente a los pacientes en sus propios hospitales comunitarios.
  • Tras la derivación del médico de admisión, los especialistas, los administradores de casos, los dietistas, las enfermeras de cuidado de heridas y otros profesionales clínicos pueden tratar virtualmente a los pacientes, lo que reduce la necesidad de que esos pacientes sean trasladados en avión a cientos de millas de sus hogares. Descubrimos que estos pacientes se recuperan más rápido cuando están rodeados de sus seres queridos.

Preguntas frecuentes

What is the Virtual Health Center and how does it support patient care?

The VHC is a centralized hub of digital health services that enhances patient monitoring, hospital efficiency, and care delivery beyond traditional settings. It integrates advanced technologies and remote care teams to optimize health outcomes.

How does the Virtual Health Center differ from telemedicine?

While telemedicine focuses on direct patient-provider virtual visits, the VHC is a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes infrastructure that enables continuous monitoring, proactive interventions and real-time collaboration across inpatient and outpatient settings.

What measurable outcomes can a Virtual Health Center deliver?

Health systems with VHC models have reported reduced hospital readmissions, shorter lengths of stay, improved bed capacity management, and increase patient engagement in chronic care management.

How does the Virtual Health Center improve clinical efficiency and reduce provider burnout?

The VHC reduces alert fatigue, automates routine monitoring and enables care teams to focus on high-priority interventions, easing the burden on bedside staff and supporting a more sustainable workforce. Nursing units

What is the ROI of investing in a Virtual Health Center?

The VHC helps health systems maximize bed capacity, reduce costly readmissions, optimize staffing and enhance patient outcomes—contributing to long-term cost savings and revenue growth.

Is the Virtual Health Center model scalable across different types of hospitals and clinics?

Yes, the VHC can be customized to fit the needs of large health systems, rural hospitals, outpatient care settings, with scalable technology and staffing models.

Póngase en contacto con nosotros en [email protected] para obtener más información.

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