Access TeleCare and UT Southwestern Project Aims to Improve Outcomes for Rural Patients with Heart Failure

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Access TeleCare and the UT Southwestern Medical Center, with integral support from the American Heart Association (AHA), are leading a two-year project to evaluate options to improve the care of patients with heart failure in rural communities across the country.

The two-year project will:

1. 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.
2. Pilot a home-based cardiac rehabilitation program for 50 patients using a mobile health (mHealth) platform.

“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., CEO, Access TeleCare. “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.”

The project’s primary investigator is Ambarish Pandey, M.D., a board-certified cardiologist affiliated with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“Too many rural patients lack access to essential cardiac rehabilitation after they leave the hospital. This project will create a valuable registry and outreach effort to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based telemedicine option to help eliminate barriers to evidenced-based care,” said Ambarish Pandey, M.D., Associate Professor of Internal Medicine.

Rural residents have a 19 percent greater likelihood of developing heart failure than urban residents, according to the National Institutes of Health. But, rural communities often have no practicing cardiologists; only 54 percent of U.S. counties had a cardiology practice in 2023, according to a 2023 study.

The project will use content and tools licensed from the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines® initiative, which seeks to improve cardiac care by promoting consistent adherence to current scientific treatment guidelines. The “Get With the Guidelines® – Heart Failure” is one of five AHA programs to ensure consistent, evidence-based treatment for patients experiencing cardiovascular conditions or stroke. The project will run for two years through May 2025.

Access TeleCare has over 1,000 inpatient telemedicine programs with hospitals nationwide, providing coverage for multiple specialties including cardiology. These programs give hospitals 24/7 access to cardiologists for patients hospitalized with heart failure, arrhythmias, chest pain, and other heart-related conditions.

ABOUT ACCESS TELECARE

Access TeleCare was founded in 2004 by a group of physicians with a vision to deliver high-quality, high-acuity specialty care at scale through technology. Our mission ever since has been to provide timely access to high-quality specialty care – inpatient and outpatient – to measurably improve patient outcomes and support hospitals’ financial sustainability. The company was the first provider of acute clinical telemedicine services to earn The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and has maintained that accreditation every year since. More at AccessTeleCare.com.