{
  "id": 1778647,
  "title": "Dartmouth Health says it needs to close telehealth services for emergency and intensive care",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/dartmouth-health-says-it-needs-to-close-telehealth-services-for",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-18T19:05:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Winnipeg Free Press",
    "slug": "winnipeg-free-press",
    "url": "https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/2026/08/18/dartmouth-health-says-it-needs-to-close-telehealth-services-for-emergency-and-intensive-care"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Dartmouth Health plans to discontinue its Tele-ICU and Tele-ED services, which would impact five Vermont hospitals and others in the region. Audra Burns, a spokesperson for the New Hampshire-based health network, stated that the costs of these two services, without external support, are unsustainable. Tele-ICU and Tele-ED are among nearly 20 types of remote healthcare provided by Dartmouth Health, designed to offer rural hospitals access to specialists at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.\n\nTele-ICU connects Dartmouth’s intensive care physicians and critical care nurses with a patient’s bedside team, enabling rural hospitals to care for patients needing acute care and allowing clinicians to perform continuous monitoring. Dartmouth Health claims this service reduces mortality rates, the length of stay in the ICU, and the need for patient transfers. Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington are among the hospitals using the network’s Tele-ICU.\n\nThe remote emergency department services, known as Tele-ED, assist providers with higher-level care and documentation during patient transport, transfer to a higher-acuity hospital, or treatment in a smaller hospital setting. Dartmouth Health describes the service as \"a life-saving connection,\" claiming it reduces transfers, staffing costs, and the need for expensive temporary clinicians. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital in Vermont, Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor all utilize Dartmouth Health’s Tele-ED.\n\nGrace Cottage Hospital’s CEO, Olivia Sweetnam, stated that the hospital’s access to Dartmouth Tele-ED is a \"really valuable partnership.\" The hospital’s emergency department staff, who are physician assistants or nurse practitioners, utilize a video monitor and button to communicate with a nurse or physician at Dartmouth for critical decisions and documentation. Grace Cottage will switch to using Avel eCare, a telehealth provider, for emergency coverage on nights and weekends, as the existing arrangement is no longer available.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}