By Maureen McArthur
~
"This is the only telemedicine network
that links public schools with primary care providers, local medical centers and a
tertiary care center."
- Rob Sprang, director of Kentucky TeleCare
~ |
LEXINGTON, KY (Sept. 1, 1999) – Kentucky
TeleCare, a program begun in 1993 by the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center,
recently received a $340,000 continuation grant from the Office for Advancement of
Telehealth. The grant is for the third year of funding for the development of a rural
telemedicine hub. The total value of this three-year grant is nearly $1 million. The
completed network will link six primary care medical facilities, five rural public school
sites, St. Claire Medical Center in Morehead, and the UK Chandler Medical Center to
improve school health delivery services, increase access to secondary and tertiary care
services, provide much needed access to behavioral health resources and create a regional
integrated health care delivery system.
"This is the only telemedicine network that links public schools with primary care
providers, local medical centers and a tertiary care center," said Rob Sprang,
director of Kentucky TeleCare. "Other programs link the tertiary care center to
public schools, but leave out the rural physicians. Kentucky TeleCare’s goal always
has been to support rural health care workers, not to bypass them."
Kentucky TeleCare allows patients to be seen closer to their homes through
telemedicine. Telemedicine, often referred to as health care at a distance, uses two-way
interactive video to bring health care providers and patients in rural areas together with
medical specialists at secondary and tertiary care centers such as the UK Chandler Medical
Center.
For example, using the rural telemedicine links, a school health nurse can see a
patient in a rural Kentucky school. If consultation is needed with a physician or other
health care provider, arrangements are made for the child to be seen via the Kentucky
TeleCare system. Live color video and audio -- including heart and lung sounds,
electrocardiograms, X-rays and images of the eardrums and throat, if necessary -- are
transmitted directly to the consultant. If specialty care is required, the TeleCare
conference is expanded to include physicians at a tertiary care center.
"Everyone benefits from this program," Sprang said. "The patients have
rapid access to tertiary center resources without having to travel farther than their
local health care facility and rural clinicians have access to specialty consults on a
real-time basis while directly managing the care of their patients, strengthening existing
referral patterns and developing new referral relationships for UK Chandler Medical Center
clinicians." |
