Advanced ICU Care adds Virtual ICU director role

Industry leader Elizabeth Raitz Cowboy, M.D., brings critical care telemedicine expertise as company expands footprint; focuses on client service and results

St. Louis, MO (May 4, 2010) - Advanced ICU Care announced that Elizabeth Raitz Cowboy, MD, MSOD, FCCP, has joined the company as director of the virtual ICU. This pivotal role was developed as the company continues to place a clear focus on providing high quality care and service to patients and clients, while expanding its program across the U.S. Advanced ICU Care is dedicated to delivering experienced critical care physicians (intensivists) through telemedicine and bedside care.

A national expert in applying telemedicine technology to enhance clinical decision-making, improve patient outcomes and efficiency, Dr. Cowboy has presented at numerous industry conferences and her publication credits include Nursing Spectrum and Chest Meeting Abstracts 2009. She has served on many legislative and advisory committees concerning telehealth and critical care medicine. She currently is a University of Toledo College of Medicine Alumni Affiliate Board Trustee, on the Executive Steering committee eICU Research Institute VISICU and a TeleICU Care second-term board member for the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Critically involved in helping to grow the virtual ICU care delivery model, Dr. Cowboy is a respected leader in telemedicine, particularly around issues concerning virtual ICU program implementation and operations, organizational development, patient quality and safety, efficiency, and clinical education. She was instrumental in establishing tele-ICU presence in the northern Virginia/Washington D.C. area as well as the state of Kansas.

"As an early participant and leader in ICU telemedicine, Elizabeth brings a remarkable perspective to our organization," said Mary Jo Gorman, M.D., MBA, chief executive officer of Advanced ICU Care. "Her insight into organizational development, program performance and operations will help guide our future growth and ensure that we continue to deliver superior results in patient care and efficiency, and help hospitals optimize care in the ICU."

A key member of the Advanced ICU Care leadership team, Dr. Cowboy will work alongside the company's medical and operations leaders to ensure outstanding performance on clinical standards and client service, deliver consistency in operations, and build communication and interaction among all stakeholders.

Before joining Advanced ICU Care, Dr. Cowboy served as the medical director for Via Christi Health System's eCare ICU in Wichita, Kansas. Prior to this role, Dr. Cowboy was medical director, eICU enVision at Inova Health System in Falls Church, Virginia, which was one of the first hospital systems in the nation to implement a tele-ICU program. Dr. Cowboy came to Inova after working with hospitals as an activation support physician for eICU site implementation. Dr. Cowboy spent the early part of her career as an emergency room physician, hospitalist, and pulmonary and critical care physician.

Dr. Cowboy obtained board certifications in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Telemedicine Association, Alpha Omega Alpha, University of Toledo/MCO Lifetime Alumni. She performed her pulmonary & critical care fellowship at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas and received her medical degree from the University of Toledo Medical Center. She has also earned a master's degree in organizational development from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, and her bachelor's of arts and science degree from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, in biology and German.

About Advanced ICU Care

Advanced ICU Care® is a medical service company that provides high-quality critical care to patients in the intensive care units (ICU) of community hospitals. Advanced ICU Care, through its sister company Critical Care Services, P.C, provides bedside intensivist staffing at hospitals in the St. Louis area. In addition, Advanced ICU Care's experienced clinicians, supported by cutting-edge telemedicine technology and a proprietary process improvement program, provide continuous ICU patient monitoring and improved care and safety outcomes to critically ill patients across the country. Hospital ICUs are linked with Advanced ICU Care's virtual ICU center in St. Louis, Mo., through a technology platform developed by VISICU, allowing Advanced ICU Care's board-certified intensivists (critical care medicine physicians) and critical care nurses to monitor hospital ICU patients from a central location. For more information, visit: www.icumedicine.com.