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The
Time is Right for vConsult. With current financial constraints, operational
challenges, government regulations and shifting demands all impacting
the U.S. healthcare landscape, providers of healthcare must maximize
the quality of care within tight fiscal budgets and time constraints.
They
are seeking new and innovative technology and business approaches
to assist them with complex operational and care issues that impact
them financially and affect their treatment efficiency.
For example,
there is clear evidence that more effective allocation of human
resources and management of healthcare assets are needed to address
basic patient needs. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported
that doctors regularly misdiagnose 23% of cases. At the same time,
international demand for U.S. medical expertise is increasing as
improvements in the global standard of living and greater access
to information allow patients to better understand their care options.
Over 300,000 foreign patients come to the U.S. for care annually
and many more would seek medical consultations if they were readily
accessible. Currently, an international consultation can require
up to four to eight weeks.
In response
to these concerns, CMTC developed a
system that facilitates the presentation of case data, matching
the case with one or more experts in the problem area. Qualified
experts at medical centers in the U.S. can then deliver remote consultations
to international physicians about their patient cases. Using vConsult,
remote consultations can become a high demand, high return service
offering for domestic institutions and their practitioners. Also,
by making such consultations more accessible, medical errors can
be reduced and the quality and affordability of care improved at
home and abroad. Developing such a system makes good sense from
both the medical and business perspectives. This is the foundational
thinking upon which vConsult was built.
We
build relationships among healthcare providers to find solutions
that favorably impact the lives of patients.
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