InTouch Health Partners with Cardiovascular Institute of the South to Offer Telecardiology Services

InTouch Health, the leading enterprise telehealth platform, announced today a partnership agreement with Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) to provide remote medical services geared towards emergent and general cardiology expertise in acute settings, adding a fourth service line to the company's physician capacity management offering. CIS will increase breadth and depth of adoption of InTouch Health's services, and extend its cardiology expertise to InTouch Health in two critical ways: (1) addition of cardiologists to InTouch Health's physician capacity management offering, and (2) collaboration on development of workflow solutions to drive best practices and allow for standardized quality of care in telecardiology settings.

"Successful implementation of telemedicine across every point of the patient care continuum – from primary care to acute care to post-acute care to home again – will increase patient safety, improve care quality, address physician shortages, expand access and reduce the cost of high-quality care. Cardiology affects one in four Americans, costs the United States almost $300 billion each year and drives approximately one-third of Medicare costs in this country, so it is prime for disruption and innovation," said Joseph DeVivo, CEO of InTouch Health. "We are excited by CIS' advancements in telecardiology, and are looking forward to our own expanded capabilities within the cardiovascular setting, afforded by this partnership."

"Telemedicine has the ability to transform the way cardiology care is delivered, through expanding access across rural areas, managing bed capacity, easing travel burden on sub-specialties, improving collaboration between sub-specialties and expanding our own coverage internationally," said Craig Walker, MD, founder of CIS. "Our partnership with InTouch Health is going to allow us to take a global approach to the delivery of cardiovascular services and reach patients who currently don't have access to a cardiovascular specialist."

"We see this partnership as a major milestone in our growth strategy," added David Konur, CEO of CIS.

The new partnership will cover emergent cardiology services in the hospital emergency department, as well as more routine consults on an inpatient floor. Boasting cardiologists that represent nearly every specialty in heart and vascular medicine, CIS is at the forefront of advancing the detection, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. CIS hosts a comprehensive heart and vascular program with specialized medical professionals trained in nuclear cardiology, electrophysiology, prevention services and lipid management, as well as interventional cardiovascular procedures.As InTouch Health continues to develop its virtual sub-specialty care model, key partnerships with innovators like CIS and other acute care physician sub-specialists will continue to position InTouch Health as a leading, comprehensive enterprise offering in the telehealth industry. To learn more please visit: www.intouchhealth.com.

Around the web

Compensation for heart specialists continues to climb. What does this say about cardiology as a whole? Could private equity's rising influence bring about change? We spoke to MedAxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, a veteran cardiologist himself, to learn more.

The American College of Cardiology has shared its perspective on new CMS payment policies, highlighting revenue concerns while providing key details for cardiologists and other cardiology professionals. 

As debate simmers over how best to regulate AI, experts continue to offer guidance on where to start, how to proceed and what to emphasize. A new resource models its recommendations on what its authors call the “SETO Loop.”