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Virtual hospital: key features,
examples & benefits of remote care
April 3, 2025
A virtual hospital is a full-scale digital hospital facilitating comprehensive online healthcare delivery, from remote triage to electronic prescription issuing, and enabling patients to receive timely quality care without visiting a medical facility.
Virtual hospitals are gaining traction due to the flexibility they offer to both healthcare institutions and patients, allowing the former to meet increasing demands for medical services and the latter to schedule and attend medical appointments at a convenient time. In healthcare software solutions development for over 25 years, Itransition helps medical organizations build robust virtual hospital solutions and make healthcare more affordable and accessible to patients.
Virtual hospital architecture
A virtual hospital consists of three major blocks: a patient app, a provider app, and a cloud server, which together facilitate uninterrupted care delivery and enable clinicians to provide comprehensive telehealth services.
Patient app
An app for patients providing access to a virtual hospital and enabling users to schedule and attend virtual consultations, message doctors about their symptoms, view their treatment plans, request medication refills, and explore educational materials about medical conditions and self-care practices.
Hospital app
An app for a virtual hospital care team (nurses and doctors), enabling them to conduct video consultations, communicate with patients via messages, access the results of patients’ tests and diagnostic procedures, and manage treatment plans and medication prescriptions.
Cloud server
A layer consisting of a real-time video streaming tool for smooth audiovisual communication between patients and virtual hospital staff and a cloud EHR or PHI and consultation recordings storage and analytics system.
Main functionality of a virtual hospital
A virtual hospital is a complex healthcare system that facilitates the delivery of remote medical care to patients at any location. The main virtual hospital functionality for delivering remote care services includes:
Virtual communication
- Conducting regular check-ins and scheduled/on-demand consultations with patients via telemedicine tools, messages, or video calls
- Calling a local ambulance team in case of an emergency
- Requesting refills and drug delivery (for patients)
Care coordination
- Triaging and admitting patients to the virtual hospital based on their needs and referrals from doctors
- Receiving notifications about upcoming events through the platform’s integration with personal and work calendars
- Creating, editing, and adjusting treatment plans
- Scheduling lab tests, screening procedures, and consultations
- Issuing electronic prescriptions and sending them to pharmacies
- Monitoring health outcomes, medication intake, and test results
- Creating AR/VR simulations for medical training, 3D body mapping, and rehabilitation programs
Data analytics
- Monitoring patients’ health state through dashboards with real-time data
- Identifying symptoms and patterns in patients’ conditions with the help of an AI algorithm
- Optimizing treatment plans based on AI recommendations
- Getting notified of patients’ abnormal health parameters
- Automatically calculating and reporting the cost and time spent on each patient
PHI management
- Adding and editing personal health data to the patient profile
- Uploading medical records and lab and diagnostic results from other providers
- Accessing care plans and appointment reports
- Logging new emerging symptoms and medications taken
Patient support
- Accessing in-app patient education modules
- Consulting AI-powered chatbots
- Using accessibility functions (voice control, keyboard navigation, audio and video captions, sign language interpretation, larger font option)
- Connecting the system to assistive technologies, such as screen readers, voice recognition software, and alternative input devices
- Browsing a doctor’s catalog with their qualifications, area of specialization, experience, and availability
Billing management
- Viewing insurance plan coverages, care bills for consultations, tests, etc.
- Accessing benefit explanations
- Paying bills online via a secure payment gateway
Data security
- Enabling multi-factor authentication for patients and medical staff
- Providing end-to-end data encryption for patients’ health information
- Allowing role-based access to patient data
- Providing secure data storage and patient-provider data transmission
- Ensuring compliance with healthcare industry regulations
- Supporting simplified, one-tap authentication through apps like Google or Facebook
- Auditing user activities to detect unauthorized access and suspicious attempts to use electronic protected health information
Ready to implement a virtual hospital?
Types of virtual hospitals & treatment they provide
A virtual hospital is a full-fledged health center with no physical location, meaning a patient can’t take tests or have surgery or other interventions in such a facility. But other than that, such a hospital can offer different online services and remote care options based on its type:
General hospital
This type of facility works as a full-scale remote hospital, allowing patients to book virtual meetings with medical specialists and avoid visits to the emergency department. It acts as a viable alternative to a traditional clinic since it supports the provision of diverse healthcare services, such as psychological counseling, scheduled and emergency consultations, and checking vital signs with the doctor, including blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen saturation, provided patients are equipped with the needed devices at home.
Chronic condition management hospital
Some virtual hospitals are dedicated to managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, mental health
problems, and lung and kidney diseases.
This type of virtual hospital provides continuous monitoring capabilities and faster access to medical
specialists. Such virtual hospitals can reduce the rate of hospitalizations due to timely interventions
based on the information collected via digital health devices.
Teleparamedicine hospital
Teleparamedicine hospitals have a team of doctors operating in a call-center environment, just like 911
specialists. The team takes incoming telecalls and consults clinicians and paramedics in the field, helping
resolve complex clinical issues.
Teleparamedicine is a lifeline for small or rural hospitals with a shortage of specialist doctors
on-premises. The external virtual hospital’s team can supervise the local staff and guide them through
medical procedures in an emergency or when a patient is in a life-threatening condition. Remote specialists
can help assess a patient’s condition on the go and offer an adequate treatment plan without delays.
Cross-boundary care & education
These virtual hospitals let patients seek advice from the world's best experts and receive expert treatment.
For example, Proximy, an AR-enhanced telehealth solution from the UK, allowed a top US oncology
surgeon to consult his colleagues from London during complex surgery and ensure its success.
Vuzix-VSee, an AR telemedicine smart glasses, operates similarly. Using this technology, clinicians
from Osaka Saiseikai Izuo Hospital working in the infectious ward can give instructions to their colleagues
in non-contaminated hospital zones and receive their advice as well. Besides, this tool allows surgeons to
perform complex operations remotely and enhance their skills.
Real-life virtual hospital examples
Mercy Virtual hospital has been operating in St. Louis, Missouri since 2015 and is the first facility of
its kind in the world. This center works around the clock, supporting 600,000 patients across seven states
and uniting more than 300 clinicians.
Mercy’s goal is to provide better care, offering rural dwellers quality help comparable to that
available to people visiting medical centers. For this purpose, the hospital uses two-way video
communication, an EKG rhythm visual and audio monitoring station, an AI-enabled tool for sepsis detection,
and a secure virtual care center that integrates the customer’s information systems, the Mercy Virtual
technology platform, and real-time audio and video assessment capabilities. The board-certified
hospitalists from Mercy work with local caregivers, coordinating patient care and providing rapid support
to the bedside nursing team, visiting patients at their homes, and offering on-call services.
We started with a small pilot of 50 patients in Washington, Missouri. In a few months, we began to see decreases in hospital utilization, patient satisfaction scores at 98% favorable and closing of gaps in care.
The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) helps regional providers remotely treat or manage urgent and
chronic neurological conditions, triage and handle dermatological cases, and deliver newborn medical care.
The MGH Telestroke and Teleneurology services offer 24/7 access to neurologists seven days a week.
Apart from that, physicians from different regions can join the Massachusetts General Hospital Dermatology
E-Consult program to get advice from its experienced dermatologists. MGH’s TeleNewborn Medicine Program,
in turn, is aimed at pediatric providers, hospitalists, and labor and delivery professionals, connecting
them to Mass General neonatologists assisting in all aspects of neonatal care.
GlobalMed has been providing virtual healthcare solutions for various specialties, from chronic disease
treatment to pediatric telehealth and teleparamedicine,
for over 20 years.
They have a telemedicine platform used by around 50 million virtual consultants, a set of connected
devices, and integrated telehealth stations for delivering effective virtual care globally.
The GlobalMed solution gained the trust of the US Department of Defense, serving as a telehealth
provider for the military health system’s 57 hospitals and 400 clinics worldwide. GlobalMed's technology
is also used in the White House and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
This international hospital provides non-emergency pediatric care in the comfort of patients’ homes. The
service is available 24/7 and offers consultations from certified pediatricians and experts in pediatric
neurology, oncology, and cardiology.
Nicklaus delivers virtual care via a proprietary mobile app that supports online consultations from
physicians or specialty doctors. In addition, MyNicklaus provides access to patient records, appointment
scheduling, and a rich pediatric library. The tool also supports several bill payment options.
Virtual hospital integrations
A virtual hospital comprises a set of electronic systems that should work in harmony to ensure the healthcare facility works stably. Hence, virtual hospital solutions require smooth integration with other systems:
Virtual hospital
Patient IoMT devices
EHR/EMR
Practice management system
Medical imaging & lab software
Patient IoMT devices
These smart tools allow patients to manage their health at home and track their vitals to share this data with their clinicians.
EHR/EMR
An EHR system is a go-to tool for a care team, providing comprehensive data on patients’ medical history, allergies, chronic conditions, contact data, etc.
Practice management system
Integration with this system streamlines and simplifies appointment scheduling and patient billing data tracking for virtual hospital managers.
Medical imaging & lab software
This integration allows a care team to analyze radiology scans and lab test results quickly and adjust further treatment accordingly.
Benefits of a virtual hospital
Mitigated clinician shortage
Due to the decreasing number of doctors, mid-level healthcare workers, and nurses and the rising demand for medical care, healthcare systems around the world experience greater pressure. A virtual hospital can become an accessible, effective solution to address the lack of clinicians and let healthcare specialists help more patients regardless of their location.
Improved patient experience
A virtual hospital allows patients to get medical consultations and treatment at any time safely and conveniently rather than visiting a physical hospital. As a result, it reduces the overall stress and burden of attending a medical center and diminishes the risk of hospital-acquired infections or hospital-related complications, allowing patients to recuperate faster and enhancing their experience and satisfaction.
Enhanced cost-effectiveness
Virtual hospitals can help reduce care costs for both providers and patients. For example, patients don’t have to travel to a facility, saving on transportation, trip fares, parking, and other costs associated with a hospital stay. As for providers, virtual hospitals help them reduce the rate of unnecessary hospitalizations and readmissions and the expenditures related to providing physical infrastructure, from facility maintenance to medical supplies and hospital assets.
Augmented hospital capacity
Patients usually remain in the hospital for post-recovery follow-ups. While such inpatients take up hospital beds and other resources, a hospital can’t accept other critically ill patients. A virtual hospital enables healthcare providers to safely send recovering patients home and organize virtual follow-ups with their assigned clinicians. Meanwhile, the provider can hospitalize more patients in need of urgent care.
Better patient outcomes
From chronic diseases to acute care, virtual hospitals ensure better treatment by providing instant access to healthcare and patient education materials. If coupled with AI, these systems can augment the quality of diagnosis, detect early signs of disease, and suggest personalized treatment plans tailored to individual patient needs.
Efficient collaboration between medical professionals
By providing tools for communication and information storage and exchange within one ecosystem, virtual care software facilitates collaboration and sharing of insights and expertise between healthcare professionals. This ensures a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, knowledge exchange, skill development, and continuity of care, as well as shared decision-making.
Three challenges of virtual hospital implementation
Challenge | Solutions | |
Digital divide for patients |
Patients can have insufficient digital literacy, which complicates virtual hospital access and use.
| Working on your virtual hospital, create an intuitive, user-friendly patient app with a simple user experience. Besides, your software vendor can help you develop an informative user guide with screenshots and clarifications. |
|---|---|---|
Resistance to change among doctors |
Clinicians need help getting used to digital tools and the specifics of virtual appointments. For some, a
new care model can bring additional stress and burnout.
| To reduce the resistance, inform your staff about the virtual care model in advance. You can stress the benefits of virtual care for clinicians, including reduced readmissions and resource optimization. |
Personal data security |
Exchanging sensitive healthcare information online creates additional security risks and increases the
chances of data breaches.
| When developing or implementing a virtual hospital solution, hire experts who are well-versed in the healthcare sector and can deliver solutions that comply with HIPAA, HITECH, and other regulations ensuring PHI security. Such cybersecurity consultants can also provide end-to-end support throughout the virtual hospital project, from the solution planning stage to post-launch, ensuring the system is resilient to cyberattacks. |
Virtual hospital statistics & trends
| The virtual health market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.02% from 2025–2030 | |
|---|---|
| The US virtual care market revenue is projected to reach $46.29 billion in 2030 | |
| The number of people choosing online doctor consultations is projected to grow by 11.74% between 2024 and 2028 |
In million users
Scheme title: The number of global telehealth patients annually
Data source: Statista
Scheme title: How the provision of virtual healthcare changed in the last two years
Data source: Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 2024 US Health Care executives survey
Note: n [US health care executives] = 51
| 82% of healthcare leaders are ready to increase telehealth service provision if reimbursement rates are the same as those for care received in person |
|---|
Scheme title: Investment priorities in the healthcare industry over the next 12 months
Data source: PwC’s 2023 Emerging Technology Survey: HI base of 56
| 27% of US patients wait for their specialty appointment for over a month, and 28% of people in the US sometimes, rarely, or never get a same-day response from their regular doctor |
|---|
% waiting > 1 day
Scheme title: Healthcare wait times by country 2024
Data source: World Population Review — OECD report
| 60% of US adults suffer from at least one chronic disease, and 40% of Americans have two or more chronic diseases, which are the main annual healthcare expense items | |
|---|---|
| The physician shortage in the US will reach 86,000 specialists by 2036 | |
| The right utilization of digital healthcare technologies can save 8% to 12% of total healthcare spending in some countries, with about 70% of these cost savings being accrued by hospitals and HCPs | |
| According to 54% of healthcare executives, virtual care opens up new career opportunities for healthcare employees who prefer to work remotely and allows for more flexible work schedules |
Scheme title: Telehealth opens up new career opportunities and/or more adjustable work hours
Data source: Philips — The Future Health Index 2024 report
| Investing an extra $0.24 per patient per year today in digital health interventions can help save more than 2 million lives from non-communicable diseases over the next decade | |
|---|---|
| 87% of patients say telemedicine is helpful | |
| 61% of people aged 18 to 45 have a telehealth-first mentality, highlighting greater convenience (60%), lower cost (20%), and high-quality care (14%) | |
| Patients in virtual wards spend between 2.1 and 3.9 days less than patients in a physical facility |
Our virtual hospital services
Itransition delivers expert services to help set up and ensure successful remote care provision for your medical facility.
Consulting
Our tech experts study your healthcare business’s specifics, determine technology requirements, formulate a plan for solution implementation, and provide guidance on delivering the best-suited virtual hospital solutions that will help meet your business needs and ensure efficient care delivery.
Implementation
Our specialists design and implement regulations-compliant virtual hospital solutions, ensure smooth virtual hospital integration into the existing digital infrastructure, and deliver professional post-implementation support upon request.
Expand your healthcare service with remote care
The implementation of digital technologies in healthcare enables providers to expand their services and lower
the healthcare access barrier, delivering timely care to more patients.
With virtual hospitals having proved efficient in recent years and remote access to quality medical services becoming
critical for many patients today, building virtual hospitals is likely to prove cost-efficient for hospitals in the
long run. Reach out to a reputable healthcare development provider to create a full-scale virtual hospital system
and seamlessly integrate it into your medical infrastructure.
Launch a fully functional virtual hospital with Itransition
FAQs
Virtual care is any interaction between patients and medical professionals that occurs remotely with the help of information and telecommunication technologies. Virtual care aims to facilitate or maximize care quality and effectiveness by bringing it to patients' preferred locations. Virtual care includes telemedicine solutions, telehealth apps for remote patient monitoring, and a regular landline phone for audio-only consultations.
Telehealth facilitates the provision of various medical services, including remote text-based and audiovisual consultations with a physician or specialty practitioners, vital sign assessment, ICU monitoring, and treatment and follow-ups for behavioral issues to help patients manage diverse acute or chronic conditions.
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