Filipinos to deliver remote patient care
A business venture that aims to address the shortage of caregivers in the United States is opening new job opportunities for Filipinos locally.
The Worldwide Resource Solutions (WWRS), a subsidiary of the US-based Medical Solutions and Worldwide HealthStaff Solutions Ltd., has inaugurated its new operational site at the GBF Center in Bridgetowne, Quezon City, marking the company’s formal entry into virtual health-care delivery outside the US.
Although the Bridgetowne hub is the second WWRS Philippine location, it will be the first to offer 24/7 remote patient sitting and virtual care services.
Ron Hoppe, chief executive officer of Worldwide HealthStaff Solutions and WWRS president, points out that “there is a pervasive shortage of health-care providers in the US.”
American schools, he says, are not producing enough graduates to fill the gaps in staffing. There has also been a significant fall in the number of enrollment in courses needed to meet the demand of health-care facilities.
As bringing more people to the US is a complicated process, WWRS has decided to bring the jobs to where potential health-care workers are. With the current state of technology, virtual caregiving or patient sitting is no longer just aspirational but is easily translated into reality.
‘Virtual sitting’
The company describes this new setup “a globally integrated model of care delivery.”
“Virtual sitting is already being done in the US,” says Hoppe. “What’s never been done before is delivering that service using staff halfway around the world.”
Sitters are neither diagnosing nor treating but observing and reporting to make sure patients remain safe, Hoppe explains.
Hoppe says the decision to launch in the Philippines is a strategic response to domestic constraints.
“If we’re short on workers, we can’t educate our way out fast enough, and we can’t bring enough people to the US, then it makes sense to bring the work to where the workers are.”
Choosing the Philippines was easy. Hoppe says the company has 27 years of experience working with partners in the country.
How does it work?
Every WWRS virtual caregiver will manage a bank of 15 monitors, each dedicated to one patient across the Pacific Ocean.
The sitter watches and interacts with the persons in their care to find out what they need. The caregiver alerts regular staff members if something seems amiss or if a patient says he/she needs anything.
Patti Artley, chief clinical officer of Medical Solutions, says sitters are integrated into care teams that communicate directly with bedside staff when patients exhibit high-risk behaviors.
“They might notice a patient trying to climb out of bed or experiencing confusion,” she says. “The sitter can verbally redirect the patient and alert the care team right away.”
Artley says WWRS plans to expand beyond patient observation to include registered nursing services delivered remotely by US-licensed Filipino nurses.
Projected expansion may include virtual ICU (intensive care unit) monitoring, medication reconciliation, discharge planning and chronic disease case management.
“The goal is to support bedside nurses, not replace them,” Artley says. “We’re trying to shift the workload so that front-line staff can spend more time on hands-on care.”
Tech-heavy
The system is highly reliant on technology, so Hoppe says redundancies and fail-safe systems are being built into the process to prevent major disruptions.
Although the system will initially not need registered nurses, Laura Dunlap Messineo, Worldwide Healthstaff Solutions chief nursing officer, says they will be looking for individuals with at least two years of medical training and experience. Needless to say, they should also be technology-savvy.
WWRS says it is starting with 20 full-time sitters but anticipates rapid scaling. “With 24/7, 365-day coverage, I can see us surpassing 100 staff once the model is proven,” Hoppe says.
Virtual sitters will work exclusively from the WWRS facility to maintain security and supervision standards. A train-the-trainer program will allow staff to observe and simulate sessions before handling live patient feeds.
Compensation will be in Philippine pesos but adjusted upward to reflect the responsibilities of working within a US clinical framework.
America and beyond
Sitters will initially attend to patients in service hospitals, hospices and seniors’ homes across the US served by WWRS.
But, as WWRS is a global company, the service may be introduced in other countries in the future.
The company describes this new setup “a globally integrated model of care delivery”.
WWRS Philippines Inc., founded in May 2024, is the offshore delivery arm of Medical Solutions and Worldwide HealthStaff Solutions Ltd. It provides administrative and operational shared services, recruitment and credentialing support and is pioneering virtual health-care delivery through telehealth-enabled roles.
WWRS pursues “transformational excellence” through innovation, customer service and the development of Filipino healthcare talent.
