Jan. 25, 2022

Avel eCare, the telehealth network and virtual hospital started by Avera in Sioux Falls, is helping support COVID-19 surges in the South, according to an industry report.

The publication Healthcare IT News featured Avel’s work recently, which it said expanded a partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense “to provide critical care expertise to hospitals and municipalities struggling with COVID-19 surges in the South.”

Telemedicine services have been helping in at least six states, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, it said, with everything from helping EMS workers deliver Regeneron treatment to homebound patients to critical care consulting “to a small community hospital that was inundated with COVID-19 patients. They weren’t staffed to treat patients who were so sick and didn’t have experience with ventilators,” the article said.

“This hospital already had called 150 places to try and find a tertiary care center to transfer folks to, but to no avail. Avel eCare was able to provide remote support to help staff by providing critical care consulting to clinicians on-site.”

To read the full report, click here.

Avel eCare was sold by Avera to New York-based private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners in November 2021.