Tech advances set state up for better health care
Telehealth, telemedicine, cyber-medicine. Whichever name it goes by, in a large, mostly rural state like New Mexico online health care makes sense. If you’re having a stroke, every minute is critical to minimizing the damage. And if you are in a small community hospital, it’s unlikely a neurologist will be on staff.
New technologies can take the doctor “virtually” to the patient, instead of the patient having to be transported to a metropolitan medical center for treatment by doctors with special skills or knowledge.
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act is expected to put increased pressure on the health system as millions of newly insured people — more than 300,000 in New Mexico alone — are given access to the system that delivers routine medical care. Having enough medical personnel to treat them is a concern. Online health care is one way to maximize the expertise of physicians and other medical experts.
With face-to-face online communication through programs like Skype and technologies that transmit three-dimensional images, doctors in one location can consult with and share diagnostic tests with medical personnel in another location. Cameras with 360-degree views can allow a doctor to examine patients from afar. And the patient is spared being transported, gets a quicker assessment and can stay close to home.
Generally, online health care has been managed by large medical centers, like the University of New Mexico Health Services’s Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research which works with doctors, hospitals and clinics around the state.
Until recently, most insurance plans would not cover its costs. However, Gov. Susana Martinez’ recent signing of a bill into law to require insurance companies to do so is likely to spark an expansion of its use.
In another recent development, the New Mexico Health Information Collaborative’s computerized, Web-based health information exchange is making it possible for medical records held in one member’s system to be accessed by other member systems through portals and databases. That means quicker and more thorough assessments of a patient’s health history, the elimination of duplicative tests and services and reduction in costs to the insurer, the patient and the government if the patient is on Medicare or Medicaid.
Online health care is offering a prescription for better health in New Mexico.