Telemedicine Acceleration

TeleDentistry

A recent article in the Democrat and Chronicle this past Friday (September 8th) discussed how the Health-e-Access program is using the Tel-e-Atrics solution to provide Dental services for children in childcare centers. 

According to the article dental checks are being conducted at six locations - Ibero Wilson Commencement Park, VOA, Action for a Better Community's Head Start Program and two YMCA's. 

Early test results have shown that almost 40 percent of the children screened had at least 2 cavities. 

As a requirement for children to enter into Head Start programs they need to have their teeth screened. 

There are a number of benefits of using the system in this way including early detection, dentists can view more cases in a shorter period of time, and better quality of care for the children which should be first and foremost at the top of every bodies list to provide.

This article provides some background on "Teledentistry — taking and transferring digital pictures of the mouth so that they can be reviewed by dentists and other specialists — is gaining momentum nationwide, according to the American Telemedicine Association."

Health-e-Station

Health-e-Station is a company that provides healthcare services to customers in Georgia with a videoconferencing telemedicine solution.   

Information from their website states that "A Health-e-Station is a walk-in center, offering after-hours and weekend healthcare for patients with minor medical conditions. For those experiencing illness that's discomforting but not serious, Health-e-Station is the perfect choice for after-hours and weekend care."

Earlier in the week NBC Today did a piece on Health-e-Station.  It is a nice piece discussing how they are filling a gap in the marketplace for access to healthcare after-hours.  They are providing inexpensive, convenient, and quick care to their patients.  From data that they discussed an emergency department visit can have a wait of anywhere from 4 - 6 hours with a co-pay cost of a minimum of $100.  There visit is available with minimal wait and a cost of $65.

Health-e-Station is providing a needed service to the community.  If they operated in upstate NY I would certainly use them in situations where I needed after hour acute care.

Building a Telemedicine Community

The goal of this website is to help build a telemedicine community that will help accelerate the acceptance of this technology and improve the quality of care that is provided to its users.  This blog will deal with telemedicine news, research projects, grant funding sources, reimbursement, and selected markets being targeted for acceptance of the technology.  It will be critical to get feedback from all interested parties in building and making this a successful venture.  Thank you for your help in advance.