Today TruClinic™ announced a new partnership with University of Utah Hospital's Department of Telemedicine, which will enable patients and practitioners to have video-based online visits and consultations with simply a computing device, Internet connection and a webcam.
University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) is the Intermountain West's only academic health care system, combining excellence in patient care, the latest in medical research and teaching to provide leading-edge medicine in a caring and personal setting. The system provides care for Utahans and residents of five surrounding states in a referral area encompassing more than 10 percent of the continental United States.
UUHC has more than 1,100 board-certified physicians who staff four University hospitals (University Hospital, Huntsman Cancer Hospital, University Orthopedic Center, and the University Neuropsychiatric Institute); 10 community clinics; and several specialty centers including the John A. Moran Eye Center, the Clinical Neurosciences Center and the Utah Diabetes Center.
TruClinic™ is a cloud based telehealth portal that enables health systems, provider groups and specialty practices to offer online, clinically meaningful consultations to their patients through video, secure messaging, and VOIP. The TruClinic™ platform is helping the University of Utah remove the barriers of location, allowing more patients to access high quality health care. Justin Kahn, CEO of TruClinic™, comments, "We are very excited to be working with such a world class organization. TruClinic's solution is enabling the University of Utah Health Care network to expand its reach and deliver convenient, much-needed care to households outside of its geographic footprint."
TruClinic™ and UUHC have been in a pilot phase for three months, serving a small subset of patients with much success. The relationship that has been formalized includes aggressive plans to make the service available system-wide where appropriate. Nathan Gladwell, Administrative Director of Telehealth for the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics says, "University of Utah Health Care is committed to providing care that local and regional patients need in the communities we serve. Telemedicine offers our physicians a solution for connecting with their patients that live in all communities. Our efforts are geared toward removing any barriers in the way of the all-important patient - physician relationship."
Upcoding practices by hospitals lead to billions in extra payments