CommonSpirit's Care Base improves outcomes, caregiver efficiency

CommonSpirit Health is revolutionizing patient care and operational efficiency through Care Base, the system's innovative virtual hospital program that enhances patient access, improves outcomes, and empowers bedside staff, bringing comprehensive, integrated healthcare directly to patients.

Care Base provides comprehensive, seamless care to patients at 452 CommonSpirit hospitals, clinics, and home health branches across 19 states. The virtual hospital provides a variety of services including 24/7 cardiac monitoring, after-hours triage, telehealth, patient discharge, and more. Care Base integrates virtual nurses and providers, and AI-enhanced monitoring to support earlier interventions, smoother transitions, and more personalized care.

Originally launched in 2021, Care Base is a proven model that generated savings of $95M in savings in fiscal year 2026

"The Care Base model lightens the burden on bedside teams inside the hospital so they can spend more time caring for patients, while Care Base clinicians provide continuous surveillance, education, and support," said Gail Daly, system senior vice president of clinical operations integration and optimization, who conceived and launched the program. "Care Base reimagines how healthcare can be delivered effectively, economically, and with the patient at the center."

Daly was honored as one of Modern Healthcare's 2026 Innovators for this work.

One Patient's Story

When Barbara Cruz began experiencing the symptoms of essential tremor, a condition that causes shaking in a person's hands, head, torso or legs, in her 20s, she knew what to expect. Her father had the condition and Cruz knew it wasn't how she wanted her future to play out.

As she aged, Cruz's symptoms worsened, and she had to stop doing things she loved. She sought deep brain stimulation treatment at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in CommonSpirit Health's northwest region. A typical length of stay after deep brain stimulation treatment is 28.5 hours, but thanks to CommonSpirit's Care Base, Cruz's was just 6.75 hours. She was able to recover at home while a virtual team remotely monitored her blood pressure.

"They made you feel like they were right there in the room helping you, and they'd say, you're doing great," Cruz said of the Care Base staff. "Remote monitoring made me feel comforted because I had somebody watching out for me after I came home."

CommonSpirit Case Base Results

By optimizing resources and harnessing advanced technology, Care Base significantly enhances patient care and access and operational efficiency at CommonSpirit by:

Expanding Patient Access: Creating greater capacity and convenient access to care, ensuring patients receive the services they need, when they need them.

Enhancing Patient Engagement: Patients are involved in their care journey, learning skills to help control their health, improving their experience. More than 90% of patients reported they feel more involved in their care while using Care Base services and 100% of telehealth patients said they would recommend Care Base's telehealth services to friends or family.

Improving Outcomes & Earlier Intervention: AI-enhanced patient monitoring allows for earlier interventions, improving patient outcomes and preventing complications. In the Pacific Northwest, Care Base kept more new mothers at home with their babies by dramatically reducing readmissions for postpartum pre-eclampsia. New mothers were able to monitor their blood pressures, receive medication adjustments, and triage care without leaving home. In FY26 alone, the Virtual Companion program prevented 187,900 adverse events.

Empowering Bedside Nurses: Care Base lightens the administrative and monitoring burden on bedside nurses, allowing them to dedicate more time to direct patient care and build stronger patient relationships.

"I really enjoy being a virtual discharge nurse because I get to see patients light up when things click -- they have a better understanding of their diagnosis, feel comfortable with their medications, and head home feeling confident instead of scared. Those moments when worry turns to peace of mind? That's what makes my day," said Ethan Brunton, RN, a virtual nurse in Tennessee.

Streamlining Operations: Improved patient flow, reducing wait times and optimizing resource utilization throughout the care continuum.

Improving Efficiency and Cost Savings: Care Base has resulted in improved efficiency for clinicians and a savings of $95M in savings in fiscal year 2026.

In 2027, CommonSpirit plans to continue to expand Care Base to an additional 50-60 facilities.