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New Hampshire In Focus, HealthCare Review-November
7, 2003
by Todd Luttinger
New England Hospitals Early Adopters Of Videoconferencing
Considering their lofty reputation for innovative and quality medical
care, it’s not surprising that New England hospitals have been leaders
in the field of telemedicine. What is surprising is that the leadership
has come from northern New England and not Boston’s highly regarded
medical centers.
The first use of videoconferencing at a New England hospital was actually
in New Hampshire and Vermont. In 1968, a videoconferencing network known
as INTERACT was established through a public grant. At its peak in the
late 1970’s, the INTERACT network connected nine facilities, including
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Hanover, NH, Medical Center
Hospital of Vermont in Burlington (now called Fletcher Allen Health Care)
and several smaller, rural hospitals. When the grant money ran out in
the early 1980’s, participating hospitals were unable to cope with
the cost of network administration and were forced to abandon the once
promising project.
However, 25 years later, northern New England residents are still benefiting
from the lessons learned using the INTERACT network. Today, DHMC and Fletcher
Allen are nationally recognized for their innovative application of videoconferencing
technology. “Telemedicine and TeleHealth Networks” named Fletcher
Allen as the first selection to their Hall of Fame. “Hospitals &
Health Networks Magazine” named Dartmouth-Hitchcock as one of the
nation’s “Most Wired” according to its 2003 Most Wired
Survey and Benchmark-ing Study.
What is most striking is the innovative and aggressive use of videoconferencing
by these hospitals. DHMC and its affiliate doctors hold regular videoconferences
with dialysis colleagues at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Their
orthopedic specialists also hold regular videoconferences with doctors
as far away as Adelaide Hospital in Australia to discuss specific patient
care issues taking place at both hospitals.
Fletcher Allen has been a pioneer in the use of videoconferencing for
diagnosing and treating trauma victims. In addition to installing sophisticated
videoconferencing equipment at their facilities, Fletcher Allen has its
leading trauma specialists wired at home to provide real-time diagnostic
and medical advice to doctors not only at Fletcher Allen, but smaller
rural hospitals across Vermont and upstate New York.
This is not to say that Boston’s major hospitals are not innovative
in their use of videoconferencing. One example is Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, which has incorporated videoconferencing in patient care,
teaching programs, administrative meetings and interpreter services.
In 1996, thanks to a grant from the National Institute of Health, Beth
Israel established Baby Care Link, which is an invaluable resource for
parents of premature children. Premature children spend weeks, sometimes
months, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital. This
two-way link from the NICU to the parent’s home enables them to
see their child anytime of the day or night, and communicate with the
doctors and nursing staff.
The Baby Care program has also been able to reduce the amount of time
an infant has to stay in the hospital. John Halamka, CIO of Care Group
Healthcare System – which is the parent of Beth Israel – wrote
in Health Management Technology Magazine that, “Since average daily
costs for NICU infants is $2,500 to $3,000 per day, the cost reductions
attributed to Baby Care Link in the pilot study are significant. Cost
savings from $5,000 to $6,000 were achieved for all babies and the reduction
in hospital stay for the smallest babies – those under two pounds
– resulted in cost reductions up to $48,000 for each child.”
Several factors driving innovation
In recent years, videoconferencing vendors have switched from proprietary
to standards-based platforms, and have incorporated PC functionality and
features that would emulate “real life” meetings. This media-conferencing
approach was made available in a videoconference through the use of PowerPoint
and other desktop applications typically used in a meeting environment.
This added functionality, together with easier-to-use systems, has made
the need for dedicated IT resources rare.
New services such as video-over-Internet protocol networks are emerging.
Video-over-IP is taking hold because of superior quality and reliability.
With IP-based videoconferencing, the existing data network can be used
as the means of transport. This is known as converged networking, and
can lead to significant cost savings and efficiency because only one network
is deployed and managed. DHMC, for example, has recently upgraded to Video-over-IP
for its network, which connects 15 affiliate hospitals throughout New
Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont.
In addition to more intuitive equipment, better quality and pricing, another
factor driving the growth of videoconferencing in health care is the demographic
shift taking place in the workforce. As younger people enter the workforce
they bring with them a far more sophisticated understanding of technology.
Looking into the future, we can expect product innovation, the need
for cost savings, the desire to improve patient care and a younger more
tech-savvy workforce to propel the innovation forward to the benefit of
everyone associated with the field of health care.
Todd Luttinger is co-founder and principal partner at Vider/ Conferencing.
Vider/ Conferencing is a provider of video, audio and web conferencing
solutions.
About Videré Conferencing
Videré Conferencing, Inc. of Braintree, MA specializes in audio,
video and Web conferencing and collaboration solutions for the commercial,
education, health care and state government markets. Videré’s
expertise includes consultation, design, sales, implementation and support
of the leading remote meeting and distance learning technologies. The
founders of Videré — Todd Luttinger, Bill Benoit and Steve
Cogliano — have over 35 years of collective experience in conferencing
systems design, sales, implementation and support.
For more information, visit www.videreconferencing.com
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