Telemedicine expands despite uncertain financial prospects

Say you're a rural Midwestern farmer in bed recovering from a major illness at your local hospital. It's time for nurse's check in, but there's no knock on the door. At Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, just over the foot of the bed, a camera whirls around and a monitor lights up to show a smiling face with a headset on. "Good afternoon, this is Jeff with SafeWatch. Just doing my afternoon rounds," he said in this training exercise. Watching the video nurses in action, it's a little hard to shake the Jetsons vibe, but this kind of health care is already alive and growing.