MISSOULA – We answer your medical questions every Wednesday on Montana This Morning during our Morning Rounds segment.
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer, just send us an email at morningrounds@kpax.com.
Dr. Kasey Harbine Blair Davison explains what telemedicine is and how it is being used to help patients during the July 4th edition of Morning Rounds.
The American Telemedicine Association has more info on telemedicine on their website, including the following:
What is telemedicine?
In brief, telemedicine is the remote delivery of health care services and clinical information using telecommunications technology. This includes a wide array of clinical services using internet, wireless, satellite and telephone media.
What is the distinction between telemedicine and telehealth?
While some have parsed out unique definitions for each word, ATA treats "telemedicine" and "telehealth" as synonyms and uses the terms interchangeably. In both cases, we are referring to the use of remote health care technology to deliver clinical services.
How typical is telemedicine?
Telemedicine is a significant and rapidly growing component of health care in the United States. There are currently about 200 telemedicine networks, with 3,500 service sites in the US. Nearly 1 million Americans are currently using remote cardiac monitors and in 2011, the Veterans Health Administration delivered over 300,000 remote consultations using telemedicine. Over half of all U.S. hospitals now use some form of telemedicine. Around the world, millions of patients use telemedicine to monitor their vital signs, remain healthy and out of hospitals and emergency rooms. Consumers and physicians download health and wellness applications for use on their cell phones.
