NOVEMBER 1996 PRESS RELEASE
Telemedicine Highlights from the TeleMed(TM) II Conference
Anaheim, California (November 1, 1996): Telemedicine is projected to demonstrate tremendous growth in 1997, according to participants at this week’s TeleCon(TM) XVI and TeleMed (TM) II conferences. The TeleCon conference highlighted wide-ranging telecommunications and videoconferencing solutions, with topics ranging from network computing for unprecedented information access throughout the world to technology-driven shifts that support self-paced, paperless formats in distance learning. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsored a concurrently-held technology-transfer conference, Technology 2006. Exhibits and talks described the latest developments in advanced manufacturing, agriculture, computers, education, energy, environment, materials, medicine, physics, and telemedicine.
Routinely cited factors contributing to future demand for telemedicine applications are the rising costs of current health care delivery systems, movement toward capitated payment systems, and the inability to adequately serve large portions of the U.S. population due to economic and/or geographic barriers. Passage of Senator Mike Thompson’s SB 1665 (The Telemedicine Act of 1996) in California is considered landmark legislation designed to improve services delivery for underserved individuals. Use of interactive video television (IATV) systems for medical consultations throughout the United States has already been well-documented. Recent surveys presented by Ace Allen, M.D. (Director of Telemedicine Evaluation and Research, University of Kansas Medical Center) suggest that the small number of IATV-mediated consults (approximately 7,000) conducted in 1995 may not address important indirect benefits. For example, medical problems involving cardiology, dermatology, and psychiatric evaluations may not be adequately delivered by some general practitioners in geographically remote settings due to physician discomfort with the practice of these specialties. In the Pacific Northwest, Lt. Col. Patrick H. Burns (Department of Informatics, Madigan Army Medical Center) is responsible for the "Seahawk" project, a telemedicine/teleradiology/patient record system that is becoming fully implemented in November to serve military personnel.
To date, major barriers in implementing telemedicine have involved communication and scheduling problems. The theme emerging from clinicians emphasizes management, organization, and planning as critical components for successful telemedicine programs. Use of tools such as business plans and needs assessments can identify the existing strengths in a health care facility and allow expansion through telemedicine. Charles "Chuck" Jones (Director, Telemedicine, Southwestern Bell Telephone) provided observations from a vendor’s perspective, suggesting that telemedicine systems often fail because a quality needs analysis was not performed or the recommendations were not followed.
