CoxHealth’s Virtual Care team wins DNV GL Healthcare’s Innovation of the Year Award

CoxHealth’s Virtual Care team – which enhances care with virtual support for our bedside teams – has earned a new national honor: Innovation of the Year.

The project received the recognition from DNV GL Healthcare, an industry leading hospital accreditation organization. The Innovation of the Year award recognizes the most innovative projects across the more than 500 hospitals accredited by DNV. 

“To have DNV recognize our Virtual Care Team as the most innovative patient care project across all of their DNV hospitals is the ultimate confirmation that we are doing what is best for our patients,” says Dr. Shawn Usery, senior vice president and Chief Medical Officer at CoxHealth. “Our team has changed the way care is delivered in southwest Missouri. With this recognition, we are now laying the groundwork to change how health care is delivered around the world. I could not be more proud of the work that this team has done.”

CoxHealth’s Virtual Care Team, which launched in the summer of 2023, places industry-leading technology in Medical-Surgical and ICU hospital rooms across the system. Through video and monitoring technology, Virtual Care Team members in CoxHealth’s command center at Cox South engage directly with patients, families and bedside caregivers, offering layers of clinical expertise and support.

“This technology is transformational for CoxHealth and is a win-win for everyone,” says Beth Polivka, senior vice president and Chief Nursing Officer at CoxHealth. “It greatly benefits our patients by providing an additional level of care and observation, ultimately improving the quality of care they receive. For employees at the bedside, particularly our nurses, it provides additional support, variety to their role, and more time to focus on direct patient care rather than other job tasks that can take up nurses’ time, such as documentation.”

DNV presented the award at the 2024 DNV Healthcare Symposium in Charleston.

DNV GL Healthcare is the nation’s fastest-growing hospital accreditation organization. It has introduced the ISO 9001 quality management system to American health care accreditation. ISO creates a specific roadmap for hospitals to not only adhere to the conditions of participation for the Medicare program, but to continuously improve the delivery of health care services at every level.

“Virtual nursing has been around for several years, but our Virtual Care team took that concept – plus improved technology – to create a better level of care that was fairly unique in the country,” says Polivka. “When you’re one of the first with anything, there are unknowns, but it has paid off exponentially and created value for our staff, patients and health system overall. For DNV to celebrate that value on the national stage is incredible, and it is a testament to our entire team.”

The organization accredits more than 500 hospitals in 49 states.