Telehealth Connects Providers and Patients Across the State

Consumers are quickly discovering a new option for getting quality personalized care without leaving home, school, or even the office. In 2011, the Delaware Telehealth Coalition was formed to fully integrate telehealth technology into patient care throughout the state. The coalition has 130 members representing all the major health systems and many smaller providers. The evidence of their efforts — and the commitment of Delaware health systems to devote time and resources to technology of this kind — has enabled innovations such as the EICU at Christiana Care Health System and the Parkinson’s Clinic telemedicine feature at the University of Delaware’s Nurse Managed Primary Care Center. A compelling case study comes from Nemours: They have established Nemours® CareConnect to deliver high-quality pediatric care to children from a distance, through the use of simple telemedicine platforms. The goal is to eliminate the burden of sending children to the Nemours ER for specialty care, by providing video-enabled iPads in every ED in the Delmarva Peninsula and every transport referring hospital in the Delaware Valley to provide real-time consults for critical pediatric patients. This service is particularly valuable for those who have difficulty accessing care and who, in some cases, are a two-hour drive from pediatric specialty care.

Read the News Journal story about telemedicine.