Concierge Medicine and Cardiac Care During COVID-19

Now that the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has altered the US healthcare system in such severe ways, a continued topic across all specialties has been on what will last, and what will return. Facets of telemedicine seem to have been embraced by physicians, patients, and payers alike; other quick fixes, not so much.

What about systems that were already designed to work in the system set by a viral pandemic? Take, for example, the collaboration between The Heart House and GoMo Health.

Through a partnership between the latter group and the American Heart Association Center for Innovation and Technology, the teams were able to establish a Heart Failure Digital Therapeutic program at the South New Jersey facility that continues engagement between patients and caregivers post-discharge, and aims to bring 4 improvements to their virtual outpatient care:

1. Reduced costs
2. Better outcomes
3. Improved satisfaction
4. Increased joy in clinical practice

In brief time, cardiac hospital readmissions have dropped by nearly two-thirds and appointments have increased by 10%.

How is this collaborative model applicable to the level of cardiac care necessary in a telemedicine-heavy system during COVID-19?

In a panel-discussion interview with HCPLive®, The Heart House interventional cardiologist Sanford Gips, MD, executive director Josh Ginsberg, MS, and GoMo Health chief behavioral technologist Bob Gold discussed virtual concierge medicine and how applicable such a system is across other institutions.