Rural residents are 19 percent more likely compared to urban residents to develop heart failure, a disparity driven by the fact that many rural communities have no practicing cardiologist and just 54 percent of U.S. counties had a cardiology practice in 2023.
Access TeleCare is committed to changing that.
Telemedicine Addresses Rural Heart Care Disparities
In partnership with UT Southwestern, Access TeleCare has launched a two-year project to evaluate options to improve the care of patients with heart failure in rural communities across the country. The project is also supported by the American Heart Association.
“Access TeleCare has long been a pioneer in eliminating barriers to timely specialty care in rural communities by bringing specialists to patients through the power of telemedicine,” said Chris Gallagher, M.D., Access TeleCare CEO. “This project is further evidence of our commitment to setting the standard of care for high-acuity telemedicine and being the standard bearer for telemedicine excellence.”
Expanding TeleCardiology Services in Rural Communities
The project will run through May 2025 and will:
- Create a registry of 1,000 rural patients with heart failure who are hospitalized in rural hospitals that have a teleCardiology program to document patterns of care.
- Pilot a home-based cardiac rehabilitation program for 50 patients using a mobile health (mHealth) platform.
Read more about the project here and read the full press release here.
