With the aim to improve care and shorten hospital stays, the Mayo Clinic Health System launched a remote patient monitoring program for critically ill patients at six of its hospitals located in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Under this program, patients will receive care from a local care team but physicians and nurses will monitor patients’ vital signs and other electronic health data from an operations center to detect changes in a patient’s condition. High definition video cameras and computer screens will facilitate communications with patients, their families and the care team, according to an announcement on the program.

"It's like having an extra set of eyes on every patient," Dany Abou Abdallah, MD, a pulmonologist and director of the critical care unit in Eau Claire, Wisc., said in the press release. "With this program, operations center nurses and physicians continuously review patients' vital signs and other data. The minute they notice a potential problem, they can alert the local care team."

The Mayo Clinic noted that the program is secure, private and available at no cost to patients. More information is available here.