Wait times to see a cardiologist in the U.S. have climbed by double-digit percentage points as the population faces a wave of increased demand for cardiovascular care.
Claire Beskin, a graduate of Boston-based Northeastern University, has been developing a new model of delivering cardiac care in an effort to close this gap.
According to an Oct. 27 news release, Ms. Beskin has spent the last three years creating Empallo, a telehealth cardiology clinic. Empallo is a fully virtual clinic that utilizes a proprietary EHR system and “user-friendly” online platform.
Empallo offers patients access to cardiologists who can diagnose and manage a range of heart conditions, including arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, hypertension and vascular diseases.
The platform is unique in that it seeks to directly combat the long wait times typical in cardiology by having appointments available within days, according to the release. Ms. Beskin said that visits last 30% to 50% longer at Empallo than at traditional practices, which is made possible by the automation of all administrative tasks such as scheduling, billing and referrals.
Although the clinic is virtual it provides the same services as a traditional cardiologist’s office. It requests records from providers, places medication orders at pharmacies, orders labs, sends patients an in-home sleep apnea test, does at-home heart monitoring and coordinates other diagnostic procedures and treatments.
Ms. Beskin said that the platform primarily finds patients through direct-to-consumer marketing, but it also receives referrals. Empallo accepts most major insurance plans and offers self-pay rates for uninsured or out-of-network clients.
Empallo is available to patients in Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, North Carlina and Alabama. The clinic will soon begin operating in Texas and will expand into New Jersey and New York in 2026.
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