By
Richard Clark
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Dept of Corrections installs new technology in prisons
Behind a single, inconspicuous door on the first floor of the Arizona Health Sciences Center Library lies the technology that may be the future of medicine in Arizona.
The Arizona Telemedicine Program, founded in 1996 at the request of the state legislature, is in the process of revolutionizing medicine by giving doctors access to patients who would not normally be treated.
When the program was originally requested by the state, it included a provision that one of the original eight sites must be in a state-run prison.
The Department of Corrections facility in Yuma was selected to be the first testing site.
Early analysis of the program showed that medical treatment that would normally cost $850 - to bring a prisoner to a hospital or clinic - only cost $550 via telemedicine, said Richard McNeely, co-director of the program.
The program has since expanded from its original eight sites to 33 sites, including five Department of Corrections prisons, he said.
The state legislature has now requested that telemedicine programs be set up in all of the Department of Corrections facilities in the state.
The program for the Department of Corrections is being run from Phoenix and operates as a secondary hub to University Medical Center but is also becoming a self-sustaining network.
Facilities have also been installed in St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson to accommodate contracts the state has with the hospital to provide care to the Department of Corrections.
In addition to giving specialists the ability to see patients in rural areas and correctional facilities, the program has the ability to give patients direct links to their doctors from home.
New computer technology is being implemented, as it becomes available, allowing patients to have their own miniature telemedicine set-ups at home - allowing them to send updates to their doctors about their conditions without having to go to the hospital or clinic, McNeely said.
"We have home healthcare models that allows a person to have more direct, more ongoing contact with their healthcare provider," McNeely said.
An advanced e-mail program integrated into the computer system allows physicians to send an entire case history including dictations, medical history, and audio and video of the problem to specialists at UMC or to the other two secondary hubs, located in Phoenix and Flagstaff.
The integration of the system is changing the views of physicians about how medicine is handled in Arizona.
"The university and the physicians throughout the state are seeing themselves as providing healthcare to population of Arizona as opposed to just your location," said Ana Maria Lopez, clinical assistant professor of pathology.
Several different types of medicine can be practiced via the network, Lopez said.
Just about any type of visual medicine can be performed via the network, ranging from dermatology to ultrasounds of expecting mothers.
Other areas that are being explored with the technology include telepsychiatry.
The computer systems also include technology that allows sound-based information to be transferred.
The same model of digital stethoscope that is used on board the space shuttle can be used to transmit heart or lung sounds to specialists via the network.
The network used to transmit the information is not limited to use by the doctors.
UMC has allowed video equipment to be set up in patient rooms to allow patients to visually communicate with family members across the country who otherwise may not be able to see and talk to their loved ones at the same time.
The concept of telemedicine has its roots in Arizona, McNeely said. NASA originally pioneered telemedicine by setting up a telemedicine program for the Papago American Indian tribe in Arizona.
In addition to improving health care access, the program has the potential to reduce costs of healthcare, he said.
One of the places this is demonstrated best is in the prison telemedicine program.
