ECU Health, a rural health system serving 29 counties in eastern North Carolina, has partnered with Artisight to introduce Smart Hospital technology across its facilities, starting with five hospitals and expanding to more in the coming year. 

This new platform will make telehealth services more efficient by expanding specialized care from ECU Health Medical Center to patients in ECU Health hospitals across eastern North Carolina and improve the experience for both patients and care teams, ECU Health said.

The rollout will begin at ECU Health Bertie, Chowan, Roanoke-Chowan, Duplin and North hospitals. 

While all locations will implement the telehealth platform, the specific services offered may differ.

Examples include the following, among other services:

Tele Neuro

Tele ICU

Tele Observers

Artisight’s Smart Hospital Platform uses artificial intelligence, cameras, microphones and other smart devices to help hospitals monitor and respond to what is happening in real time. 

It works with electronic health records to support care coordination and streamline workflows.

Key features include:

AI-powered insights to improve patient care and hospital operations. For example, AI sensors can detect when at-risk patients attempt to get out of bed and automatically notify care teams, helping prevent injuries and improve response times.

Virtual nursing and monitoring to extend the reach of clinical staff.      

With this technology, patients in rural areas can now receive specialized care from ECU Health Medical Center specialists without needing to travel. 

Through two-way video and audio, patients can speak directly with specialists while staying in their local hospital room, reducing transfers and delays in care. 

The platform also improves communication among care teams, speeds up decision-making and helps hospitals run more efficiently.

“ECU Health serves a geographic third of the state of North Carolina, with many patients living in remote rural communities throughout our 29-county region,” said Brian Floyd, ECU Health chief operating officer. “Our commitment to building the national model for rural health care means finding new ways to remove barriers.” 

Floyd said the platform helps patients “get high-quality specialty care close to home, without the need to travel. Through partnerships like this, we’re using technology to extend our reach and improve care across eastern North Carolina.”

By bringing together different technologies into one platform, ECU Health is expanding access to advanced care in rural communities, he said, a reflection “on the health system’s commitment to innovation, equity and improving the well-being of the region.”

“Hospital CIOs and nursing teams need solutions that can improve more than just one small part of their workflow,” said Dr. Andrew Gostine, CEO and co-founder of Artisight. “This is especially true in rural hospitals that must maximize limited resources to deliver care to patients in their communities.”

Said Gostine: “Our Smart Hospital Platform creates the infrastructure for the hospital of the future, where patients can access the highest quality care no matter where they live and trusted AI tools are seamlessly integrated into clinicians’ workflows.”

Artisight’s platform has already shown strong results in hospitals across the country, helping teams discharge patients on time, reducing documentation time and giving nurses back valuable minutes during admissions and discharges, ECU Health said.