Telehealth Technology

Improving rural healthcare services through telehealth technology

Telehealth technology is playing an increasingly important role in bringing health services to rural communities. The number of hospitals in rural areas continues to decline, requiring patients to travel greater distances and spend more money to seek treatment. As providers work to meet the Quadruple Aim framework – improving patient experiences, applying evidence-based care, reducing costs and improving the care team’s experience – more healthcare organizations nationwide are turning to telehealth technology to manage telemedicine in rural areas.

Telehealth technology provides an effective and cost-efficient alternative to on-site care through Internet and Ethernet services that enable real-time video, voice and other collaboration technologies. By reducing diagnostic errors, accelerating the processing of insurance claims, facilitating collaboration among clinicians and improving patient flow, telehealth technology has the potential to deliver more than $300 billion in savings each year in the U.S. healthcare industry.

Telehealth technology is impacting nearly every aspect of healthcare

Telehealth technology is a broad collection of healthcare applications and services for delivering real-time care, storing and sharing patient information, and remote monitoring. Common examples of telehealth services include:

• Virtual office visits that enable patients to consult with a physician without leaving their home.
• Mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) devices that connect to smart phones and tablets and allow high-risk patients to check their heart function without a visit to the doctor’s office.
• Robotic surgeries performed by remote physicians, enabling patients to travel to a local facility rather than a specialty facility thousands of miles away.
• Sharing of medical records and medical imaging files that include high-bandwidth digital photos, video, audio or text.

Network performance is key to telehealth technology

For hospital information technology that utilizes real-time video and voice, healthcare organizations need Internet and wide area network (WAN) connections that can deliver high bandwidth, continuous availability and minimal latency. That’s why so many organizations are turning to connectivity solutions from Spectrum Enterprise to power and support their telehealth technology initiatives.

Spectrum Enterprise delivers everything that healthcare providers need to manage telehealth technology for success, including:

• Scalable, future-proof fiber Internet and Ethernet solutions that enable fast transfer of information and promote healthcare data security.
• Managed Router and WiFi services that relieve hospital IT teams from routine management and maintenance of hospital WiFi and routers.
• Unified Communications services that deliver next generation hospital phone solutions with superior quality and advanced collaboration features.
• TV solutions that provide a rich, high definition viewing experience with flexible programming packages that help healthcare organizations improve the patient experience.

Spectrum Enterprise provides discounted broadband and telecom services to qualifying healthcare organizations serving rural and underserved communities. Learn more about the Healthcare Connect Fund and the Telecommunications Program, components of the Universal Service Administration Company’s (USAC) Rural Health Care (RHC) Program.