A growing discussion about Accountable Care Organizations, which are designed to make healthcare providers accountable for patient outcomes, will hopefully keep more people out of the emergency room. Though this is promising, it’s very hard to improve outcomes especially in chronically ill patients when relying on a bricks-and-mortar model.
By one estimate 20% to 30% of chronically ill people cannot even get transportation to their doctor’s office. How will their outcomes improve without a more holistic approach? The answer is in telemedicine.