American Well and Allscripts have announced an agreement to introduce American Well's telehealth platform to Allscripts' national network of physicians and provider organizations.
The partnership, announced on August 15 during Allscripts' annual client conference in Chicago, integrates American Well's Online Care telehealth solution into the Allscripts EHR platform.
In the past, Boston-based American Well typically partnered with payers.
"This is a very, very significant milestone," said Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH, American Well's president and CEO, adding that the partnership "recognizes that telehealth needs to become a part of the core toolset that physicians must have to practice medicine," said reports.
Schoenberg said that telehealth has typically been seen from a patient's perspective and has gained traction in the payer community, but providers have been “slow to recognize its value to them in the care delivery process.”
Both the telehealth and mobile health markets are expected to explode financially over the next few years, according to market researcher GlobalData. Growing applications and availability will lead the industry to grow from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $32.5 billion by 2018.
Telehealth is changing the way medicine is practiced. The way it works is that doctors fit patients with monitors that transmit data remotely to healthcare providers, giving a picture of patients’ vital signs, glucose levels and other important readings, thereby keeping them out of the hospital but still under physician care, for intervention at any point. It also brings specialists to rural areas through the use of video conferencing.
With the development of the Accountable Care Organization model of care delivery and a willingness by payers – including the federal government – to reimburse for telehealth services, "We have a dramatic movement in the market from a business standpoint,” as
Allscripts CEO Glenn Tullman said. "They're going to be connected to almost a third of the physicians in America. It's going to be a part of the normal workflow for (physicians), and that's what's so critical. It's a way to extend the practice."
As Tullman stated, the combination of Allscripts' open platform and programs like American Well's Online Care will open up healthcare to "massive change."
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
