Dr. Zuger's recent article in the New York Times got us thinking about "the cracks" in medicine and what it takes to keep patients from falling between them.

As she points out, there didn't used to be as many cracks. There was a local doctor and there was a hospital. That's two places and one crack. Your doctor mediated the gap there and managed transitions.

Now, we have many different kinds of places where healthcare happens, many specialists, and multiple institutions that need to work together. As Dr. Zuger says, that creates a situation where "we spend a lot of time and energy getting people to where they need to be, launching them according to condition, severity and, always, insurance."

Transitions create opportunities for waste, poor care, hassle, and expense.

Every time one of the dozens of "handoffs" happen in a regular case, it creates the opportunity for something to go wrong, or at the very lease for something to be delayed: "they see the kidney guy, who sends them to a vascular guy, but they already have a vascular guy, and then the cardiologist recommends yet another vascular guy, and now what?"

Healthcare collaboration and telemedicine are two solutions to these transitions. We've long felt that even in the best of scenarios, the endless handoffs from provider to provider (with little to no communication among these busy folks) put patients' health, relationships, sanity, finances, and proper treatment at risk. iClickCare is one way of supporting providers in cutting readmissions, costs, length of stay, and other key managed care measures by decreasing the time, delays, and mistakes associated with these transitions. 

So that you have one less thing "falling between the cracks" to worry about. 

To download our free guide to telemedicine options and how they can cut costs and improve care, click here: