Telemedicine has been one of the biggest digital health care trends in 2015, even though it has been around for quite some time. Telemedicine is the treatment and remote diagnosis of patients by means of telecommunications technology. In other words, doctors can communicate with their patients over great distances using technology.
American Telemedicine Association CEO Jonathan Linkous said while telemedicine has become popular in the last few years, it has been around for almost three decades. Based in Washington, D.C., ATA is an international resource that promotes the use of advanced remote medical technologies.
“There’s a large variety, and it can be something very sophisticated in technology like the use of robots in hospitals or it can be as simple as using a cell phone to be able to communicate with a physician,” Linkous said. “There’s really a whole range of technologies that can be used, and it all depends on the application and the specific use.”
“We’ve done a great job for the last 100 years by having a great hospital and we take really good care of really sick kids, but we also want to make sure we’re keeping kids healthy and well.”
—Julie Hall-Barrow, vice president of virtual health and innovation, Children's Health
Linkous said telemedicine is just the first step in helping a patient. In emergency cases, it is always advised that patients receive urgent care in-person, but in more common cases where the patient may have the flu, a cold or a rash, it can be convenient and cost-effective to use telemedicine, he said.
“There’s a lot of research that has been done to make physicians and regulators more comfortable that, yes, you can provide quality care by using telemedicine,” Linkous said. “...There’s a greater demand, and telemedicine offers an opportunity to meet that demand.”
Telemedicine also comes in the form of mobile apps. Some apps allow the user to video chat with a doctor anywhere in the country, and others allow the user to send a picture of a cut or scrape to a doctor. Some medical facilities like Children’s Health Medical Center in Dallas use telemedicine as a communication tool. Children’s Health has campuses throughout North Texas, including Plano.
Children’s Health uses telemedicine to keep a close watch on young patients as well as work with health care providers in various areas to help them communicate with their patients, said Julie Hall-Barrow, vice president of virtual health and innovation.
“We’ve done a great job for the last 100 years by having a great hospital and we take really good care of really sick kids, but we also want to make sure we’re keeping kids healthy and well,” she said.
Hall-Barrow said in an effort to expand access points to allow children to have access to primary care and specialty care, Children’s Health launched several telemedicine programs in different departments, including in its neonatal intensive care unit and emergency rooms. The programs assist the providers in more rural and regional communities with experts in the field of pediatrics.
Another program Children’s Health piloted in 2014 and has continued this year is its telemedicine school-based program. The program is a nontraditional access point of health care, and it allows Children’s Health to be virtually embedded in 57 schools in the North Texas corridor, a number that will eventually grow to include 30 more schools, according to Children’s Health. The school-based program provides virtual consultations with physicians through the use of mobile telehealth carts, which are fully equipped stations that capture, transfer and store diagnostic medical images and patient data between medical professionals.
With the permission of parents, the carts connect a Children’s Health Pediatric Group physician to a child who may visit the nurse’s office with an issue that is outside the nurse’s level of expertise.
In order to expand the school-based program, Hall-Barrow worked closely with state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Plano, to help pass legislation that would allow for that expansion.
House Bill 1878, which was authored by Laubenberg, passed during the 84th legislative session this year. It allows the use of telemedicine services in a school-based setting, including provider reimbursement under the Medicaid program for those services.
“We’re talking about making basic medical care affordable and accessible,” Laubenberg said. “We have doctors’ offices and urgent cares on every corner in Collin County but you don’t have that in rural areas. So these models would work really well out there, and it does not replace your primary care doctor.”
