????瑪麗?喬?戈爾曼是圣路易斯的一名醫生，不過如果讓她去硅谷的初創軟件公司工作，也一點兒沒問題。今年53歲的戈爾曼已經成功創建了三家公司，包括最新開張的高級ICU護理公司（Advanced ICU Care）。借助科技手段，該公司可以對全美范圍內重癥監護病房（ICU）中的患者進行遠程診斷和監控。這項開創性的服務正在悄然改變醫院治療重癥患者的模式。

????戈爾曼于1989年在圣路易斯成立了Critical Services公司，從此開始了她的商業生涯。這家公司由一群重癥監護醫生組成。她親眼看到許多重癥監護病房面臨的問題：病房里躺滿了年邁的患者，醫療專家的數量卻嚴重不足（他們更愿意去學術醫療中心工作），導致醫院難以提供一流的看護服務。

????戈爾曼意識到，科技可以幫助中端醫院解決重癥監護病房人手不足的問題。遠程醫療在放射科和治療中風方面已經很常見，為什么不把它用于急救護理呢？2004年，戈爾曼在圣路易斯建立了高級ICU公司。這是美國第一家遠程提供重癥監護服務的公司，由重癥監護醫師為病人提供全天候24小時的看護。由于工作時間固定，工作地點位于地鐵站附近，而且具備頂尖的監控設備，她的公司吸引了30多名醫生加入。他們借助特殊軟件來看護“客戶”醫院里的病人，可以探測患者生命特征，跟蹤實驗結果，分析病情變化。

????戈爾曼的公司很快贏得社區醫院中的粉絲，比如北卡羅萊納州海波因特地區醫療系統。海波因特是座中型城市，位于格林斯博羅西南方約20英里。采用高級ICU公司的服務前，為了滿足重癥監護病房的需要，他們的醫療團隊需要從外地招募臨時醫生，但是這樣做的成本非常高。格雷格?泰勒是海波因特醫療系統的首席運營官，本人也是一名醫生。據他估算，自從海波因特采用高級ICU公司的服務以來，已經省下了“大約300萬至400萬美元”。（高級ICU公司按患者數量向醫院收費）。遠程報告文檔也讓他非常放心。他說：“通過電子系統，他們能夠發現早期的危險跡象，已經挽救了數十名患者的生命。”

????戈爾曼說，即使是那些能請來當地重癥看護專家的醫療中心，高級ICU公司也能使他們獲益。保險公司想要減少重病看護的賠償金，這給了醫院削減開支的壓力。戈爾曼估計她的公司可以幫助醫院節省每位病人2,000至3,000美元的成本。（她拒絕透露高級ICU公司的財務信息，只表示從2006年開始運營起到現在，公司收入已經增長了55%。）

????戈爾曼的父母分別是土木工程師和護士。作為家中長女，她兼有父母所從事領域的性格：對待病人的理性態度【她1984年畢業于南伊利諾伊大學醫學院（Southern Illinois University School of Medicine），并擁有超過20年的從醫經驗】和企業家的勇氣。擔任高級ICU公司首席執行官的戈爾曼說：“這是我一手開創的事業，我希望看到它結出碩果。只要我的董事會還支持我，我就會一直做下去。”如果事情有變呢？那她也一定可以在硅谷找到新的立足之處。（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????Mary Jo Gorman is a medical doctor in St. Louis, but she would fit right in at a software startup in Silicon Valley. ?Gorman, 53, has successfully launched three companies; her latest venture, Advanced ICU Care, uses technology to remotely diagnose and monitor patients in intensive care units around the country -- a groundbreaking service that is changing the way hospitals treat their most critically ill patients.

????Gorman got her start in business in 1989, founding Critical Services, a St. Louis group of intensivists, physicians who deal with cases in the ICU. She saw firsthand the problems many ICUs face: An aging population is filling up the beds, but a shortage of specialists (who tend to gravitate to academic medical centers) makes it hard for hospitals to provide top-notch care.

????Gorman figured technology could help middle-market hospitals supplement their ICU staffs. So-called telemedicine was already commonplace in radiology and the remote treatment of stroke patients -- why not apply it to critical care? In 2004, Gorman launched Advanced ICU, the nation's first "tele-ICU" company, offering around-the-clock monitoring by intensivists based in St. Louis. More than 30 physicians, lured by a job with defined hours in a desirable metro area, work in a state-of-the-art monitoring center, keeping tabs on patients at "client" hospitals with special software that watches patients' vital signs, tracks lab results, and analyzes changes.

????The company quickly gained a following among community hospitals such as High Point Regional Health System in High Point, N.C., a midsize city approximately 20 miles southwest of Greensboro. Before the health group hired Advanced ICU, it had been necessary to bring in temporary doctors from out of town to staff its ICU -- at great expense. Greg Taylor, chief operating ?officer of the High Point system and a physician, estimates that Advanced ICU has saved him a sum totaling "in the $3 million to $4 million range" since High Point started using the service. (Advanced ICU charges hospitals a per patient fee.) The remote docs also provide him with peace of mind. "They're seeing early warning signs electronically that have saved dozens of patients' lives," he says.

????Even medical centers with access to local ICU specialists can benefit from Advanced ICU, Gorman says. Insurance companies are moving to reduce reimbursements for intensive care, putting pressure on hospitals to cut spending. She estimates that her company can save hospitals $2,000 to $3,000 per ICU patient. (She declines to disclose financial information about Advanced ICU except to say that annual revenue is up 55% from 2006, its first full year of operation.)

????The eldest daughter of a nurse and a civil engineer, ?Gorman has a foot in two worlds: She has the rational bedside manner of a physician (she graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1984 and practiced for more than 20 years) and the nerviness of an entrepreneur. "This is a project I started and want to see to its fruition," says Gorman, who is CEO of Advanced ICU. "As long as my board will have me, I will keep running the company." And if things change? Well, she could probably find a home in Silicon Valley.