One of the leaders in the home-based telemedicine movement is partnering with Massachusetts General Hospital on a pilot program that would bring specialized, video-based care to certain patients.
American Well's six-month pilot with Mass General, unveiled on April 8 and scheduled to launch this month, will focus on child and adolescent psychiatry, heart failure and neurology.
“Telemedicine is a critical tool in improving access to care and overcoming barriers created by geography, income or social circumstance,” said Lee H. Schwamm, vice chairman of Neurology and medical director of TeleHealth at Boston-based Mass General, in a press release. “The technology enables us to extend our reach and deliver the highest quality of care to members of our own system and to a broader population of patients as well.”
“Massachusetts General Hospital is an iconic institution representing the very best of healthcare both nationally and worldwide. Mass General’s decision to roll out telehealth as a channel for their renowned services fits the bill of innovation and modernization of healthcare delivery for which this organization is so well known,” added Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH, CEO of American Well Systems, also based in Boston. “We at American Well are proud to be part of this effort and will help Mass General and its leadership continue to shape clinical best practices and enlist technology as a way to bring care to their patients.”
Through the pilot program, American Well's Online Care telehealth platform will be used to connect Mass General physicians in the three specialties with their patients at home. For example, participating physicians can see children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (as well as their parents) at home, while cardiologists can scheduled video visits with their patients to develop a more effective monitoring program and neurologists can plan follow-up visits with patients who have mobility issues and would otherwise have a difficult time getting to the hospital.
American Well's platform is designed to enable physicians to use the web, smartphones or mobile devices to review a patient's clinical information, conduct a video visit, prescribe medications and coordinate follow-up care.
The company has forged a number of significant partnerships in the last few years, working with Tufts Medical Center to treat patients in Haiti, connecting with retirement villages in Florida through the University of South Florida and providing home-based care for veterans via the Department of Veterans Affairs. American Well also has programs with Ascension Health, Rite Aid, WellPoint, OptumHealth and Blue Cross and Blue Shield in both western New York and Minnesota, is providing online care to people in Australia and New Zealand through Medibank and recently launched a partnership with Allscripts to integrate telehealth into electronic health records.
Officials said the program will be expanded to more departments at Mass General if the six-month pilot proves successful.
