Telemedicine is the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical data, and education using interactive audio, video and data communications. Rural Health Futures, Inc. has concentrated its efforts on assisting rural healthcare providers in understanding, planning and funding Telemedicine networks since its inception. One of the most widely distributed publications on Telemedicine was published by the Kansas Hospital Association and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in November 1993 and was written by Rural Health Futures, Inc.
"Handbook to Rural Telehealth & Telemedicine"
One of the primary efforts of the staff of Rural Health Futures is to assist rural providers in envisioning a Telemedicine network that addresses a variety of health care needs. Unlike most Telemedicine experts, Rural Health Futures continues to adhere to a comprehensive definition of Telemedicine that includes all areas of healthcare delivery. While most experts in the field have limited their Telemedicine focus to medical consultations over interactive videoconferencing, it is important for each rural provider to bring advanced technologies and telecommunications to bear throughout their institution. This would include applications such as teleradiology, telecardiology, telepathology, mental health, electronic medical records, laboratory information systems, etc. By taking a comprehensive view of Telemedicine, Rural Health Futures has found ways for expensive technologies to be integrated, distributing the costs throughout the healthcare delivery system to make them more affordable. This work continued as Rural Health Futures found ways for rural healthcare providers to use their Telemedicine efforts as the impetus to explore greater hospital integration of information, network integration, and community health information networks (see the information on Integrated Rural Health Information Networks ).
Still one of the keys to any implementation of Telemedicine is to clearly understand how the healthcare delivery system and the relationships among providers must change to fully utilize the technology. Again, one of the strengths of working with Rural Health Futures in planning a Telemedicine network, is the focused efforts placed on looking at changes in services and how relationships must be built to insure the technology is properly addressing the rural healthcare providers needs and opportunities.
Rural Health Futures would look forward to working with
you as investigate the value of Telemedicine. Our experiences
are well suited to educational sessions, network planning,
service assessments, and funding Telemedicine networks.
For additional information see our experiences in
Telemedicine networks or contact Kelli Schneider @
(970) 207-9798 or
