Evaluation of the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program. Case Study Report. Tele-Network for Remote Pain Management, 96078, Seattle, Washington and Forks, Washington

摘要

Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle, WA, established a teleconsultation system for its Pain Management Program, which allowed patients to see a specialist at VMMC from their local clinic and in the presence of the local provider and family, in some cases. Local providers and consulting physicians were able to work together to provide a continuity of care not previously possible. Prior to the project, chronic pain patients had to travel several hours to Seattle for a relatively short consultation without their primary caregiver. The project linked three clinics and one hospital on the rural Olympic Peninsula, two of which were tribal clinics, through a hybrid T-1/ISDN connection. Project staff reported positive health outcomes, as well as saved time and money, for the 25 patients who used the system. The project had planned to serve more patients, but because of delays in setting up the system, largely due to vendor delays and the limitations of the rural infrastructure, they were not able to start early enough. Unsupported administrative responsibilities placed on rural clinics contributed to limited buy-in on the part of the clinics, and this also may have resulted in the project treating fewer patients than intended.