About the Program

Palo Pinto General Hospital offers pulmonary and critical care through telemedicine with Access TeleCare.

The pulmonary and critical care telemedicine program not only improved patient care and satisfaction, it added to the hospital’s bottom line. Effectively expanding the facility’s ability to provide specialized care, patients who would normally require transfer now stay in-market. The program helps the hospital reduce the need for travel and expensive accommodations for families and enhances the hospital’s ability to coordinate care.

“When we got Access Physicians (now Access TeleCare) to join our program, we had so much great patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction,” said George Thomas, M.D., a Palo Pinto General Hospital hospitalist. “Access Physicians is the one group that has been truly very true to their name. They have provided not only access to skilled and caring pulmonologists for our patients but also 24-7 coverage for all our patients. It has truly been an amazing addition to our team.”

WATCH: Learn more about the success of Palo Pinto General Hospital’s telemedicine programs.

Today, Palo Pinto General Hospital is expanding its use of telemedicine services into several areas of the hospital following more than a year of successful deployment of a pulmonary & critical care telemedicine program, which resulted in a substantial retention of patients locally.

The pulmonary and critical care telemedicine program not only improved patient care and satisfaction, it added to the hospital’s bottom line. Effectively expanding the facility’s ability to provide specialized care, patients who would normally require transfer now stay in-market. The program helps the hospital reduce the need for travel and expensive accommodations for families and enhances the hospital’s ability to coordinate care.

“When we got Access Physicians (now Access TeleCare) to join our program, we had so much great patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction,” said George Thomas, M.D., a Palo Pinto General Hospital hospitalist. “Access Physicians is the one group that has been truly very true to their name. They have provided not only access to skilled and caring pulmonologists for our patients but also 24-7 coverage for all our patients. It has truly been an amazing addition to our team.”

According to Palo Pinto General Hospital CEO Ross Korkmas, (Access TeleCare) telemedicine services resulted in a reduction of emergency department patient transfers by 36 percent — approximately 200 patients annually. For pulmonary patients specifically, the hospital’s use of telePulmonary services resulted in reduced transfers of more than 40 percent. “There’s a huge impact to our community where we are able to keep more patients close to home and close to family instead of shipping them off to a facility that may be 1.5 to 2 hours away from where we are located.”