The Three Rivers Health District case study: telemedicine implementation via distributed networks
by Debbie Justis, Ronald C. Merrell, Charles R. Doarn
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM), Vol. 6, No. 1, 2004

Abstract: With the increasing availability of telemedicine technology to rural communities, sustainability of newly established programmes is increasingly being tested. Networks created in the rural community using telemedicine technology must meet needs beyond the capabilities of the technical connections possible. In the Three Rivers Health District Case Study, the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCUHS) joined with members of this rural Eastern Virginia community to form a network. This network was created in an attempt to improve the health status of the citizens of this community. After a thorough assessment of the community's health status and the willingness of the citizens and professionals in the area to accept this technology, a different approach to network formation was proposed. Instead of creating a traditional hub and spoke model of telemedicine network, a distributed model for the network was proposed. In this distributed model, the members of the network are encouraged to connect to each other, as well as the University Medical Center. The hope is to increase the sustainability of this programme by not decreasing patient volume of the specialists who are currently practicing in the area. Over the coming years, the network is predicted to be sustainable and increasing in value to the community, by offering patients the choice of being seen via telemedicine either by their local provider, or by the physicians at the medical centre. By increasing patient access to care, while being sensitive to the local physician's needs, the ultimate outcome is better health for the citizens of the community.

Online publication date: Wed, 07-Jul-2004

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management (IJHTM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com