Critical care intensivists at the University of Minnesota provide comprehensive tele-ICU services that extend expert critical care support across the M Health Fairview system. With 24/7 remote monitoring and consultation, the program enhances patient care in ICUs throughout Minnesota—especially in locations without full-time, on-site intensivist coverage.
Through a secure and integrated telemedicine infrastructure, our critical care physicians offer real-time clinical guidance, continuous monitoring, and remote management for critically ill patients. This model not only improves patient outcomes and access to specialty care, but also provides vital assistance to bedside clinicians. During the COVID-19 pandemic, tele-ICU physicians played a central role in supporting emergency room and hospitalist teams managing severe cases in resource-limited settings.
Tele-ICU care is also an important aspect of fellowship training at the University of Minnesota. Fellows participate in remote ICU triage, management, and consultation; gaining essential experience in communication, resource coordination, and systems-based practice across multiple hospitals.
The tele-ICU program is part of a broader, integrated critical care effort involving over 45 intensivists and 15 advanced practice providers from the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, and Anesthesiology. Faculty provide on-site ICU care at University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC), Southdale, and other hospitals, while also supporting additional ICUs remotely.
Originally launched in 2008 with onsite faculty at Southdale and Ridges hospitals, the program expanded to include the first non-federal tele-ICU service in Minnesota. In 2017, the tele-ICU hub moved to Southdale Hospital, where on-site physicians now provide both direct and remote care to partner hospitals such as Ridges, Woodwinds, Lakes, Northland, Range, and Grand Itasca.
Ensuring Quality
The tele-ICU program emphasizes high standards of care through shared protocols, structured training, and clinical consistency. It supports a unified electronic medical record (Epic) across the system, which allows for streamlined workflows and integrated monitoring.
Evidence-based practices are standardized across 12 ICUs in 9 hospitals. These include ventilator order sets, sedation protocols, prone positioning, early mobility, enteral nutrition, and bronchoscopy techniques. Such alignment reduces variability, supports clinical research in areas like ARDS and sepsis, and drives continuous quality improvement.
Fellows and junior faculty also gain experience in quality improvement (QI) projects, protocol development, and system-wide initiatives; preparing them for future roles as ICU medical directors and leaders in academic medicine.
Collaboration & Resource Management
The program reflects a strong collaboration between academic departments and community hospitals. In 2021, a system-wide ICU triage initiative was introduced to optimize the placement of critically ill patients across the region. This initiative ensures timely access to ICU beds and expert care throughout the five-state area.
Guided by a system steering committee of ICU directors, pharmacists, nurses, and analysts, the tele-ICU program ensures alignment on best practices, resource allocation, and care delivery. The result is a scalable, resilient critical care network capable of meeting both everyday demands and crisis-level challenges.