NewYork-Presbyterian health system announced the rollout of NYP OnDemand, a new set of digital health tools including telehealth services for both patients and providers available on the NYP website and via its mobile app. The offerings will rollout gradually over the next few months, and will include offerings for emergency services, digital follow-ups, second opinions and acute stroke care.

The new set of tools builds on the health system’s app launch from the beginning of the year, at which time NYP told MobiHealthNews it would add video visits features soon. The new group of offerings, NYP OnDemand uses a mix of telemedicine and physician networks to deliver a variety of services.

“The comprehensive nature of this program is really what sets us apart,” Dr. Peter Fleischut, chief innovation officer at NYP told MobiHealthNews in a recent interview. “The emphasis is really on patients.”

Among the first services available for patients is the NYP OnDemand Second Opinion, which was launched earlier this summer in collaboration with Grand Rounds, Columbia Doctors and Weill Cornell Medicine. The service connects patients from anywhere in the country to clinical experts at NYP. Patients initiate the process online and are then assigned a care coordinator, who matches them with the best doctor for their condition. The doctor will write a second opinion to the patient, whom all the while never has to leave home. As of now, the Second Opinons are offered by over 300 physicians in 80 medical specialties.

The NYP OnDemand suite of services was developed by the health system’s Innovation Center, which launched in 2014. For inter-hospital video consults, the program uses the health system’s own Cisco teleconferencing infrastructure, and video visits for digital urgent care will use telehealth company American Well. 

Currently in its pilot program, the "digital emergency" and urgent care part of NYP OnDemand offers visitors to NYP's facilities the option of an on-site but virtual visit through real-time video interactions with a clinician after having an initial triage and medical screening exam (which will be done in a private room with a webcam or monitor). For any non-emergency but still urgent treatment conditions, patients will eventually be able to access separate virtual urgent care services from NYP and Weill Cornell doctors via the NYP OnDemand mobile app.

“When patients visit ColumbiaDoctors at NewYork-Presbyterian, they know they will see outstanding physicians who will combine the latest technologies with highly personalized care and caring. This new suite of digital health services will help to maintain and enhance that experience,”  Dr. Lee Goldman, dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine and chief executive of Columbia University Medical Center, said in a statement.

Later this year, the digital follow-up service will be launched, providing patients with a virtual follow-up option.

“Instead of having to take a day off work, go to an office and deal with all of that, someone can just have a virtual follow up that takes up eight minutes of their day and be done,” said Fleischut.

While the new offerings are consumer-facing, NYP OnDemand also facilitates peer-to-peer physician consults within the nine hospitals that are part of the NewYork-Presbyterian system. The program also works in conjunction with the NYP Telestroke Initiative, which has been deployed at two of the system's hospitals and uses video conferencing and data sharing that allows for 24/7 coverage for acute stroke care. Neurologists are available for rapid evaluation, and NYP reports the service has resulted in improved door-to-treatment times.

“This really shows how we are leveraging telehealth as a whole,” said Fleischut. “The quicker and faster we can diagnose and treat someone, the better for patients and the healthcare system can improve overall.”