P. Michael Ho, MD, PhD

This retrospective cohort evaluation found that patients receiving electronic, compared with face-to-face, specialty consultation had significantly lower health care costs for at least 3 months.

E-consult implementation grew from 12 to 122 VHA sites with multiple specialties. The adjusted e-consult rate of 1.93/100 consults saved significant patient travel miles and costs.

Systolic blood pressure control was not maintained in a large proportion of patients after the end of participation in a hypertension intervention study.

A multisite multimodal intervention of patient education, home monitoring, measurement reporting to an IVR system, and pharmacist follow-up achieved greater BP reductions vs usual care.