Orlando, Florida, USA, August, 10, 2026
Independent research from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Telehealth Center of Excellence has demonstrated measurable enterprise value from virtual nursing programs powered by ThinkAndor®, the AI-native clinical services platform from Andor Health. The report, Demonstrating the Value of Virtual Nursing: Measurement Framework and Toolkit for Health Systems, provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating virtual nursing across workforce experience, patient outcomes, operational performance, and financial impact. The findings draw on more than two years of MUSC implementation experience as its virtual nursing program expanded from five inpatient units to 57 units across four regions in South Carolina.
MUSC Reports Measurable Workforce Improvements
The MUSC report positions virtual nursing as a care delivery and care redesign strategy, rather than simply a response to healthcare workforce shortages. Health systems are increasingly managing persistent staffing challenges, rising patient acuity, growing documentation requirements, and pressure to improve operational efficiency. According to the report, virtual nursing can help address these challenges by allowing experienced nurses to support bedside teams through remotely delivered clinical workflows.
MUSC reported several workforce improvements following implementation. Seventy-six percent of bedside nurses reported spending less time documenting admissions and discharges, while 68% said they had more time available for patient rounding. In addition, 87% of bedside nurses reported a decrease in overall workload, while nurse satisfaction averaged 4.41 out of 5. Among virtual nurses participating in the program, 100% reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the virtual nursing model. The program also generated an estimated $2.4 million in savings from reduced nurse turnover across early-adopter units, highlighting a potential financial benefit associated with improving workforce experience and retention.
ThinkAndor Supports Enterprise Virtual Nursing
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ThinkAndor® serves as the AI-native intelligence layer supporting MUSC’s virtual nursing program. The platform orchestrates virtual clinical workflows within the electronic medical record and enables experienced nurses to remotely support bedside teams across activities including patient admissions, discharges, education, documentation, quality surveillance, and care coordination. During approximately 2.5 years, MUSC expanded virtual nursing from five inpatient units to 57 units across four regions, generating more than 23,500 virtual nursing encounters. The program delivered virtual nursing capacity equivalent to approximately 10.2 full-time nursing positions, according to the report.
MUSC also reported an improvement in discharge efficiency, with average discharge time decreasing from 2.8 hours to 2.7 hours while the program expanded statewide. Although the reduction was relatively modest, the finding contributes to the broader operational assessment of virtual nursing across the health system. The report was developed in collaboration with Manatt Health and is intended to give healthcare organizations a practical framework for measuring virtual nursing beyond anecdotal success. The framework evaluates workforce, patient, population health, operational, and financial dimensions to help health systems assess investment and scalability.
AI Identified as Next Stage of Virtual Nursing
The MUSC research also highlights artificial intelligence as an emerging next stage of virtual nursing, particularly through AI-enabled documentation, predictive monitoring, and intelligent workflow orchestration. These capabilities could potentially expand the capacity of virtual nursing teams while allowing clinicians to focus more directly on patient care and complex clinical decision-making. Andor Health describes ThinkAndor as an AI-native clinical platform designed to integrate healthcare data, electronic health records, connected devices, and clinical workflows. The company says its platform has deep EHR integration across more than 40 health systems and more than 20 million patients.
The independent MUSC report provides a framework for health systems evaluating the broader impact of virtual nursing as healthcare organizations seek sustainable approaches to workforce challenges and operational performance. The findings suggest that virtual nursing combined with AI-enabled clinical workflows can contribute to workforce resilience, operational efficiency, and care delivery at enterprise scale. Further implementation and longitudinal evaluation will be important for determining how these benefits translate across different health systems, patient populations, and clinical environments.
Source: Andor Health press release
