Could telemedicine be a profit center for medical campuses? At a recent UCLA conference on ‘Telemedicine and Telehealth, Today and the Future at UCLA’, this surprising statement made by John Mazziotta, chair of their Health System’s Department of Neurology and head of the Brain Mapping Center can be backed by the extension of the five medical campuses to provide services all over the state, including continuing medical education.
Supporting this was Molly Coye, their Chief Innovation Officer, in predicting massive changes not only in the care model but also in ‘reconfiguring our financial arrangements’ which was also echoed by Debbie Corlin, one of their budget directors (hmmm.) Also noted: neuro-ICU robots guided remotely, the VisualDX visual diagnostic database, experiences with Cisco’s HealthPresence telemedicine system. Telemedicine, the wave of the future–UCLAToday.
Profitable telemedicine
It is interesting to see that a profit motive is being applied to what should surely be a service to patients by providing the patients both greater access to health care as well as reduced cost for the patient. It is certainly indicative of the financial driver in the US health care system.