New Mexico Telehealth Program Shows Promise as Chronic Illness Care Model

A New Mexico telehealth program that was started nearly a decade ago has shown promise as chronic illness care model that expands access to high quality, evidence-based care for patients with complex health conditions being treated in a primary care setting. The program, Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), was started by the University of New Mexico Health Science Center (UNMHSC) to provide specialist consultations and case-based learning via a telehealth platform to community-based primary care professionals. It began in 2003 with a focus on improving hepatitis C treatment in primary care because although 34,000 . . .