Mayo Clinic researchers estimated that their system could avoid 1,800 specialty consultations and subsequently reduce direct costs by $450,000 annually, if each provider orders e-consultations two to three times every month.
[7] Due to better transfer of skills from specialists to PCPs, general practitioners for chronic kidney disease in the UK reported more confidence in managing the condition.
Tasks, usually performed by administrative staff such as tracking referral process and correcting errors, are PCP's responsibility in the e-consultation system.
[10] Under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), only services provided to rural Health Professional Shortage Areas were eligible for reimbursement.
[11] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated $417 billion to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to implement national broadband networks.
According to Section 3022, an ACO is required to define a process that promotes evidence-based medicine and coordinated care through the use of telehealth and other enabling technologies.
With the goal of improving the health of county residents through innovation and research, it implemented e-consult across more than 40 ambulatory and primary care clinic sites in June 2012.
Currently, e-consult serves safety net patients with the goal of increasing the access to specialty care for Medi-Cal recipients.