Healthcare IT News - March 2008 - (Page 12)

12 Healthcare IT News John Radford, MD, a physician at Adena Regional Medical Center in Ohio, engages with one of the newborn babies who will be examined remotely by neonatologists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The telehealth initiative is funded with federal money. ■ March 2008 HoSpITalS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com TeleHealTH Continued from page 1 focused initially only on Adena,” said Steven Welty, MD, chief of neonatology at Nationwide Children’s. “But the feedback has been universally positive, so we have picked three more hospitals that we’re going to connect with, according to greatest need,” he added. “We’d eventually like to service the entire southeastern part of Ohio and into West Virginia.” The telemedicine project currently enables neonatologists at Nationwide Children’s to collaborate in real-time with pediatricians at Adena Health. The videoconferencing technology makes it possible for the neonatologists to assess and diagnose infants, Steven Welty, MD review CT scans and X-rays, and consult with Adena pediatricians on treatment plans. Almost as important, the telemedicine program saves time and money, said John Fortney, MD, medical director at Adena Health. Prior to the introduction of videoconferencing technology, pediatricians at Adena consulted with the Columbus-based neonatologists via telephone. Unable to see the patients and offer a thorough assessment, the neonatologists “played it safe” and had many infants transported to Nationwide Children’s. Many of these transfers were later found to be unnecessary. “Telemedicine has changed everything,” said Fortney. “Our transfer rate is about half of what it used to be. The patient and the parents are being better served. No parents want to be separated from their baby so shortly after birth, so the technology is a good community Stan Ahalt service.” The HD technology used in the program relies on a dedicated 1,600-mile high-speed, fiber-optic network maintained by the Ohio Supercomputer Center. The network serves as the “backbone” for almost 100 educational institutions in Ohio, and OSC claims that it is the most advanced network of its kind in the United States. “The major expenses involved in this project were the videoconferencing equipment, the highbandwidth connections, and the expertise needed to configure the networks,” said Stan Ahalt, OSC’s executive director. “But you’re freeing up time not transporting sick children to another hospital, and you’re also building up a network of people as well as a network of technology. When doctors use this link effectively, they build professional relationships.” Ahalt said the impediments to building similar telemedicine programs across the United States are not predominantly technological. “You’ve got to have a clearly defined objective, and then get the key technology in the hands of passionate people,” Ahalt said. “Broadband networks can have lots of profound effects in different areas of our society than we can see right now.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: teLeHeaLtH 0308 e l Connect: eLSevIerNurSING 0308 l http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.nursingconsult.com http://www.nursingskills.com http://www.mosbysnursingindex.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=8850

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Healthcare IT News - March 2008 Contents No. 1 E-prescribing ‘Quite Bright’ Bill Frist on IT Google Connection Poised for P4P ‘Smashing Success’ Tough On Fraud It's Analytics Getting Rid of the Pain Stuck In Neutral

Healthcare IT News - March 2008

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