TeleHealth

Overview

Bringing People Together

A separation of hundreds of miles or more is now bridged by technology that allows patients, nurses and doctors to talk as if they are in the same room. TeleHealth can be as simple as two doctors talking by telephone about a patient's problems. Or, TeleHealth can be transferring medical information safely and confidentially via a high-speed telephone line. Now, it's even face-to-face examinations by doctor's of patients far away using interactive conferencing.

No matter where a patient lives, he or she should have access to high-quality specialty care. The Marshfield Clinic TeleHealth Network makes that possible without lengthy travel or the expense and risks associated with it. Distance should never be a barrier to the best possible health care.

Background
The Marshfield Clinic TeleHealth Network (MCTN) was initiated in December of 1997 with a 1997 Rural Telemedicine Grant from the Office of Rural Health Policy. In 2000, MCTN received an additional grant from the Office for the Advancement of TeleHealth, HRSA, to continue to expand its original program and move out into the community with access to needed services via TeleHealth.

The original seven services slated for 1997-98 turned into fifteen, and the next eight services turned into thirty or more. MCTN has been very successful in its first eight years in bridging the gap between resources and remote based populations' unmet health care needs.

The Marsfield Clinic TeleHealth Network uses IP protocol at 384-512 kbps over proprietary fiber optic cable leased from ILECs and CLECs. In addition, we have several ISDN links at 384 kbps and other POTS connections at 21 kbps. With the exception of TeleRadiology and PACS, all clinical consultations are interactive real-time, using Polycom codec technologies at the remote site and as IP gateways and VCON PC-based provider workstations. Digital stethoscopy, otoscopy, imaging, and patient exams are all conducted with a variety of patient peripherals, including specific medical devices and consumer based products.

Request an Appointment