The American Heart Association Center for Telehealth and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Center for Virtual Care Value and Excellence (UNC-Chapel Hill ViVE) have announced a strategic partnership aimed at advancing telehealth integration and improving patient care through collaborative research and educational initiatives.
With telehealth now accounting for 23% of all healthcare encounters nationwide, the partnership seeks to address emerging challenges and opportunities in virtual care delivery. The collaborative effort will focus on generating real-world knowledge, developing implementation frameworks, and exploring emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to enhance healthcare outcomes.
Dr. Saif Khairat, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill ViVE, emphasized the partnership's significance in bridging research discoveries with practical healthcare applications. The collaboration aims to create evidence-based resources that support integrated telehealth care models and improve professional knowledge through targeted educational programs.
Key objectives of the partnership include advancing telehealth research, creating comprehensive guides for healthcare providers, improving professional education, and expanding scientific knowledge dissemination. By combining their unique strengths, the organizations intend to tackle current telehealth challenges and develop innovative solutions that can benefit healthcare providers and patients in both urban and rural settings.
The partnership recognizes the transformative impact of telehealth, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated virtual care adoption. Dr. Lee Schwamm from the American Heart Association noted the collaboration's potential to enhance telehealth education and training for current and future healthcare professionals.
This joint commitment represents a significant step toward integrating advanced digital health technologies into mainstream healthcare, potentially improving access, efficiency, and quality of medical services across diverse healthcare environments.
