About 275 medical professionals and policymakers attended the conference Wednesday at the Younes Conference Center to discuss a range of topics, including changes in the Nebraska Health Professional Incentive Act and population health strategies.
DeVany, the presenter at the telehealth session, said the future of rural Nebraska health care is changing rapidly with technology.
Telehealth is the delivery of health services using technology in order to improve access to quality health care in rural and urban communities. Patients can access specialists and doctors that might not otherwise be available.
Telehealth also can help cut costs while reducing patient travel time and time away from work and family. It can even save lives through screenings and early diagnosis for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases.
In the near future, it isn’t too far-fetched to predict patients will visit with a doctor from their homes, nor will it be unusual to monitor the elderly in their homes through the use of sensors, said DeVany.
One service DeVany described, LivingWell@Home, uses sensors installed throughout the home of elderly users to monitor for falls or health issues. The sensors can identify falls or other movements that are out of the ordinary. The technology can allow aging people to live at home longer.
“Telecommunications not only reduces costs for companies but also for the employee who has to take time off work, drive across town, wait in the waiting room, and what if that employee has children? More than likely, there’s child-care costs involved, too. Workplace telehealth reduces both cost to the company and the employee. It reduces time off and creates employee satisfaction,” DeVany said.
Technologies such as videoconferencing and other online applications help telemedicine care providers to reach more people.
McDowell County, N.C., uses Health-e-schools to improve access to health care for students. The technology is based on high-definition videoconferencing. It uses specially equipped stethoscopes and cameras so that a health-care provider can examine students at several schools without traveling.
“They collaborate with primary-care physicians to provide many services. This includes addressing acute issues such as the common earache or stomachache to sports physicals and telepsychology/telebehavioral health,” DeVany said.
Current telehealth practices include:
- Conducting patient visits by interactive video;
- Forwarding digital images to remote specialists;
- Counseling sessions between patients and therapists;
- Providing medical education to distant audiences;
- Monitoring intensive care units remotely;
- Interpreting radiology results from anywhere;
- Monitoring patients in their own homes; and,
- Offering pharmacy services at a distance.
“Because of telehealth, we are seeing expectations change. Both patients and providers are expecting to have access to various services. The thought is, ‘Why not?’” DeVany said.
DeVany is the director of Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center. She has been involved with telemedicine activities since 1993 when she served as the statewide telemedicine activities coordinator for South Dakota.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Heather Riggleman
Quelle/Source: Kearney Hub, 18.09.2015
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