mHealth

Study Testing Telehealth Support for Ostomy Patients

By Jane Erikson on Nov 09, 2017

Among all the challenges that accompany a diagnosis of colon, rectal, or bladder cancer, learning to live with an ostomy can be the most difficult.

Now, the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP), The University of Arizona, and three other institutions – the University of Pennsylvania, the City of Hope/Beckman Research Institute, and Yale University – are taking part in a randomized clinical trial to see if telehealth can be effective in helping ostomy patients adjust to the lifestyle changes they face.

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Telemedicine’s Place in the “Smart City”

By Elizabeth A. Krupinski, Ph.D. on Oct 16, 2017

I recently had the honor to serve on a panel for the newly incorporated city of Stonecrest, Ga.; a long way from the Southwest, but you’d be surprised at the number of commonalities between the Southeast and Southwest regions of the country.

Ignore geography and weather – if you can – and think about demographics and population. Both regions have large states with significant portions that are very rural. Both regions also have large minority populations that live in both rural and urban sectors, and often have limited access to healthcare for a variety of reasons. They also have large populations that suffer from chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease that often go uncontrolled due in part to lack of ready access to healthcare and health education services.

Enter telemedicine.

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A Plan to Make Rheumatology Accessible in Arizona

By Nancy Rowe on Jul 20, 2017

The problem

If you need to see a rheumatologist, chances are you’re going to have to wait—especially if you’re in a rural area. According to a 2013 study by the American College of Rheumatology Committee on Rheumatology Training and Workforce Issues, rheumatologists are in very short supply in the United States—and as the population ages, they are becoming even more in demand.

In addition to treating the more than 50 million Americans with arthritis, rheumatologists treat other diseases, like lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, gout and scleroderma. These specialists not only have completed four years of medical school and a three-year residency, but also have undergone an additional two to three years of training in a rheumatology fellowship.

So how do we in Arizona address this workforce issue without making patients travel long distances to be seen, often after waiting months for an appointment?

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Baby Boom: Telemedicine and Pediatric Cardiology

By Jane Erikson on Jun 08, 2017

In the March 14 edition of the journal Circulation, the American Heart Association published what is described as the first comprehensive scientific statement on the growing use of telemedicine in pediatric cardiology.

“In most cases, the potential advantages of telemedicine in pediatric cardiology are numerous, including improving access to care, improving quality and saving lives,” the heart association stated. “In addition, this appears to be occurring with enhanced patient and practitioner satisfaction and cost-efficient medicine.”

Faculty and colleagues with the Arizona Telemedicine Program, based at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, also point to telemedicine’s progress over the last decade or so.

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Telemental Health: An Effective – and Increasingly Accepted – Treatment for Addiction

By Candice Rasa on Apr 13, 2017

Telemedicine is advancing how we treat drug and alcohol addiction. That’s good news for the 21 million people in this country with substance use disorders (SUDs). Here’s why, from my perspective as an addiction clinician.

Substance abuse is now a major public health crisis that demands urgent priority and the application of new and innovative solutions that can help close the treatment gap. At a time when drug overdose is the fastest-growing cause of accidental death, and when more people have SUDs than cancer, telehealth treatment for addiction promises to reach a whole swath of people in need of treatment, for whom geography or other factors — stigma can be another one — were once an obstacle to help. It still remains the case, for example, that patients in rural areas of the country have to drive long distances to get to a treatment center or to see an addiction specialist for medication-assisted treatment. Telemedicine is reducing the burden of such barriers.

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