Cuero (Texas) Regional Hospital has partnered with multispecialty physician group Access Physicians to provide its patients with cardiology services, the Victoria Advocate reports.
Four notes:
1. Access Physicians partners with hospitals across the U.S. to provide specialty services such as cardiology, pulmonary and neurology via telemedicine.
2. Under the new partnership, Access Physicians provided Cuero Regional Hospital a telemedicine cart equipped with a monitor and camera, which hospital staff can bring into patient rooms. Remote cardiologists can then conduct telemedicine examinations with patients.
3. Chris Gallagher, MD, global president and co-founder of Access Physicians, said his company's mission is to provide rural hospitals with specialty care they might not have access to. He said rural areas tend to have about 40 specialists per 100,000 residents, compared to 134 in urban areas.
4. Lynn Falcone, CEO of Cuero (Texas) Health, said: "Given the challenges rural hospitals face when recruiting specialists, telehealth medicine is a fantastic solution … If specialists have limited days and times to see patients at rural hospitals, the next best thing is to bring them on board remotely."