Expanding Emergency Care Through Digital Health

Emergency physicians frequently consult specialists for focused expertise, but evolving care models are exploring how emergency clinicians themselves can function as specialists within broader health systems. This approach draws on core elements of emergency medicine, including identifying acuity, managing patient flow, and applying a broad base of clinical knowledge across care settings.

At the AAEM 32nd Annual Scientific Assembly (AAEM26) in Seattle, WA, Lulu Wang, MD, will present a session titled “EM Beyond the ED: Using Technology to Expand Our Reach.” The session is scheduled for Monday, April 13, 2026, from 11:55 AM to 12:05 PM PT in Cascade Ballroom II on the second floor. Dr Wang is Director of the Digital Health and Innovation Fellowship at MedStar Health/Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She reports no financial relationships to disclose.

This session will describe a multihospital Emergency Medicine Consult program that provides services across a health system, including emergency department teletriage, urgent care and home health consults, and rapid virtual emergency department evaluations. The presentation will review lessons learned from 5 years of implementation and outline how emergency physicians can use technology-assisted triage and consult platforms to support patient flow and care delivery across multiple settings. Reported outcomes from this program include reductions in left-without-being-seen rates and door-to-provider times, as well as identification of safety issues through expanded clinical oversight.

Learning objectives for the session include describing how the emergency medicine skillset can be applied to improve throughput and safety outside the emergency department, identifying different modalities of emergency medicine telehealth along with their benefits and drawbacks, and considering approaches to incorporating digital health into clinical practice.

Reference
Wang L. EM beyond the ED: using technology to expand our reach. Presented at: AAEM26 Scientific Assembly; April 13, 2026; Seattle, WA. Accessed April 1, 2026. https://aaem26.eventscribe.net/SearchByBucket.asp?f=TrackName&bm=Abstract&pfp=Abstracts