Case Study: Spectrum Health reduces transfers and saves $5M with Amwell specialty telehealth

Spectrum Health Decreasing Transfer Costs and Improving Care Delivery Through Specialty Telehealth

Spectrum Health, a not-for-profit integrated health system based in Grand Rapids, needed to expand access to specialty care beyond its flagship hospital to rural and regional sites. To connect specialists with patients regardless of location, Spectrum Health launched the Specialty MedNow telehealth program and selected Amwell’s 750 Telemedicine Cart and peripherals as the core technology for remote consults.

Amwell’s telemedicine carts and the Specialty MedNow workflow enabled rapid scaling—more than 25,000 remote consults across 90+ use cases and monthly consults growing from ~90 to over 1,000—delivering measurable impact: an average $1,100 saved per avoided transfer (infectious disease: 314 avoided transfers, $345,400 saved), wound care readmissions down 76% with ~830 consults, sleep clinic wait time reduced from 4.5 months to 2.5 weeks, and over $5 million saved for Priority Health; Amwell’s durable, easy-to-use carts (3+ year lifespan) were cited as a key driver of adoption.

Spectrum Health

Joe Brennan

Senior Director of MedNow