Access TeleCare’s 2024 in Review
From Chris Gallagher, M.D. | Access TeleCare CEO
Through our work together, 2024 was a year of impact and growth for Access TeleCare. We celebrated two decades of pioneering specialty telemedicine, bringing highly qualified, expert medicine and behavioral health professionals to communities across the country, eliminating traditional geographic barriers to equitable access to specialty care.
By partnering with 19 of the 25 largest health systems in the U.S. and numerous smaller rural and community hospitals, we have facilitated over 7 million patient encounters since our inception. Our virtual catchment area now covers more than 216 million people, or nearly two-thirds of the U.S population. The scale and breadth of our services is a real testament to the staying power of telemedicine and signifies that it is a vital part of the future of care delivery.
This year, we had just over 300 program implementations across all service lines from neurology, behavioral health, hospitalist medicine, infectious disease, maternal-fetal medicine, pulmonary and critical care, cardiology, and nephrology. We also added service lines with existing hospital and clinic partners, positioning them as leaders in deploying multi-specialty telemedicine programs, ensuring patients in their communities can rely on them for care, no matter their need or condition. Piggott Health System in Arkansas, for example, added its fourth telemedicine service line (outpatient neurology) with us in July, expanding its telemedicine services of inpatient pulmonology, cardiology, and infectious disease care to its community. Just one example of the many expansions we’ve seen this year as our partners gain more and more value from high-quality telemedicine programs.
We’ve also led the way in the industry, joining forces with the American Telemedicine Association and some of the country’s most respected health systems to establish the new Center of Digital Excellence to set standards and benchmarks to shape the future of virtual care. Additionally, we have partnered closely with The Joint Commission on establishing new standards for accreditation of telehealth programs and joined a webinar to discuss this initiative. The caliber and commitment of our team to advancing telemedicine and healthcare are also evident in the project we launched with UT Southwestern, supported by the American Heart Association, to evaluate options to improve the care of patients with heart failure in rural communities. We are mission-driven to be the torchbearer of excellence in telemedicine, leading the way so others may follow.
Advancing Our Team
The backbone of our success is our clinicians and operations staff. We could not do this work without our dedicated physicians and advanced practice providers and staff who provide 24/7 tech support, billing and contracting expertise, and other vital operations. More than 200 additional providers joined us this year to provide their time and talent in the service of greater access to specialty care.
In addition, recognizing our commitment to supporting our employees and maintaining a positive and collaborative remote work environment, Access TeleCare was named a 2024 Top Workplace for Remote Work by Monster and Energage.
A look back and reflection on the year’s successes are the foundation from which we will advance even further in 2025. With a shared mission to make high-quality specialty care accessible anywhere in the country, Access TeleCare and our partners are making zip code an increasingly less relevant factor on access to specialty care.
Thank you for your partnership!
