Question

2 page paper on how telemedicine is enhancing medical care in the state of georgia

Answer 1

The question is how telemedicine is enhancing medical care in Georgia.

Answer :

Georgia is a rural state where healthcare access varies considerably by geography, leading to inequitable health outcomes across the state.Telemedicine seeks to improve patient's health by permitting two-way.

real time inter active communication between the patient and physician at the distant site.

Georgia consists of a total of 18 health districts encompassing a local health department and one or more counties within Georgia. The intention of this learning collaborative was to deploy 12 telemedicine carts in rural public health clinics to allow patients with a variety of health needs to reach healthcare providers and help DPH address infant mortality, obesity, and associated diseases.

Engaged Partners and Meaningful Partnerships:

Georgia’s approach to building a statewide telehealth network among a number of partners was successful due to DPH recognzing that telemedicine was not a new concept in Georgia (especially for some rural health departments) but, most health departments were not aware of the increased levels of patient engagement within those rural health departments.the emerging role of public health within telemedicine was to be viewed as a partner and not a competitor.

DPH established a formalized partnership with the Georgia Partnership for telehealth which allowed public health departments with telemedicine carts to access 200 additional medical specialists as needed.

Communication and planning efforts prior to implementing carts at the identified sites were vital in assessing the clinic’s capacity and garnering leadership buy in and support.

Spread and Sustainability:

The end goal is to foster strong partnerships within states to allow for a more efficient delivery of resources and healthcare services.

DPH secured approximately $2 million in grant funding to continue to support public health telemedicine programs to address infant mortality, obesity, HIV/AIDS, dental health, and other issues, especially in medically underserved areas.

DPH has made proactive steps through the development of a comprehensive sustainable business model that will help continue expanding on its network/infrastructure through data collection/analysis, the development of management protocols, an evaluation kit, a marketing-communications plan and financial profiling.  

Sustainable funding has been identified through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Healthcare Connect Fund that provides reimbursements for telehealth and telemedicine programs serving rural communities.  

DPH is consistently leveraging partners and expertise to educate state legislators on the telehealth/telemedicine benefits and on-going efforts.

DPH continues to monitor telemedicine cart utilization quarterly, assess the quality of delivery, and maintain the utility for community members.

Some clinics are beginning to integrate culturally and linguistically appropriate standards of healthcare into their telemedicine practices by looking to coordinate with interpreters in other counties.

Improvement plans are being drafted to continue expanding telemedicine into the remaining health districts with the vision to expand to every county health department based on needs.

Results :

Healthcare professionals operating the telemedicine carts with the patients utilized the time within the appointment to further engage with patients and provide them with more health education and resources—facilitating a more patient-centered approach to care delivery. This patient engagement opportunity is key to empowering patients.

Public health clinics seeing an increase in patient engagement and ability to follow through with their appointments. The telemedicine carts have allowed clinics to see more patients in a timely manner. Given the success, some clinics are beginning to utilize telemedicine for mental health consults and teledentistry.

Developing the network-enabled public health practitioners to maximize their overall efficiency and reach. The expansion of the telemedicine network aims to engage the Georgia Volunteer Health Care Program (GVHCP), enlisting the help of providers willing to provide care via telemedicine.

There are three main types of telemedicine, which include store-and-forward, remote monitoring and real time interactive services. Each of these has a beneficial role to play in overall health care and when utilized properly can offer tangible benefits for both healthcare workers and patients.