During a session at EmTech, Ronald Dixon, director of the Virtual Practice project at Massachusetts General Hospital, showed off digital technology like a health kiosk that could change healthcare.

Businessweek reports:

Health-Care Reform in Action
Something a speaker said at this morning’s EmTech panel session is still wringing in my ears: “For the last four months of his life, I Skyped with that patient every day,” said Ron Dixon, the director of The Virtual Practice at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The patient in question was dying of cancer, and it would have been physically challenging for him to come into the hospital daily. And what insurance company would cover that? Yet by adopting an inexpensive new technology, Dr Dixon was able to see and talk to his patient daily to discuss needed adjustments in treatment – all for the cost of a Webcam and a monthly Skype bill…