The Arizona Telemedicine Program Blog

Copper Queen Community Hospital

Telemedicine Helps Arizona Hospital Survive the Rural Hospital Closure Trend

By Jane Erikson on Apr 09, 2015

At a time when small rural hospitals are increasingly closing their doors, Bisbee’s Copper Queen Community Hospital is bucking the trend.

One can point to a number of reasons why the 14-bed critical access hospital, 10 miles north of the Arizona-Mexico border, is able to maintain a healthy bottom line. One reason is Copper Queen’s robust use of telemedicine.

Patient meeting with doctor via telemedicine

Telemedical Care: What Patients Think

By Nancy Rowe on Mar 26, 2015

I was vacationing in a tiny, remote mountain town on the east coast last summer when I became ill. It was a Sunday evening and the local urgent care center didn’t open until the next morning. I didn’t want to wait 15 hours for urgent care, and I didn’t want to be driven to the regional ER, where I might have to wait a long time to be seen—and might be exposed to something contagious while in the waiting room.

FDA Guidance and telemedicine device

FDA Issues Cybersecurity Guidelines for Connected Medical Devices

By Mike Keeling on Mar 12, 2015

Internet and Wirelessly Connected Medical Devices (“Devices”) are a cybersecurity concern of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as evidenced by guidance it issued in October 2014. The FDA Guidance does not have the force of law—but is highly influential in the medical device industry. Likely, failure of compliance will delay or prevent FDA approvals of such Devices.

Cabo Verde Telemedicine Network

Rifat Latifi, MD: Taking Telemedicine Where It's Never Been Before

By Jane Erikson on Feb 26, 2015

Rifat Latifi, MD, general and trauma surgeon, professor of surgery at the UA and associate director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program, put all that on hold four years ago to direct the only Level One trauma program in Qatar – and to develop new health-care systems in the war-torn part of the world where he was born and grew up.

Arizona Telemedicine Council: Unique Structure, Extraordinary Impact

By Jane Erikson on Feb 12, 2015

The Arizona Telemedicine Program was established in 1996 with eight clinical sites around the state. Now, nearly 20 years later, the ATP has expanded to 160 sites.

As the numbers imply, this is a program whose impact has far exceeded expectations. In fact, on a map recently published by the University of Arizona, showing sites around the state where the UA has a presence, the ATP far outnumbers other programs.

Ronald S. Weinstein, MD, co-founder and director of ATP, points directly to the visionary folks – legislators, physicians, agency officials, hospital and insurance executives and others – who have committed their time and talent to the Arizona Telemedicine Council (ATC).

Telemedicine doctor

From the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show to Congress, Advocating for Telemedicine

By Jane Erikson on Jan 29, 2015

One of the largest exhibitors at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show is UnitedHealthcare. The nation’s giant health insurer has had a 3,000 square-foot booth at the show each year for the last four. But of course, they’re not there to show off their latest tele-gadget.

They are there to promote the benefits of telemedicine, telehealth and other tele-technologies that are closing the gap in access to health care.

telemedicine service

Telemedicine Services: Now the Leading Edge

By Nancy Rowe on Jan 15, 2015

“What was the single most important development in telemedicine, telehealth and/or teleradiology in 2014?”

That question was just posed by a colleague in an email to several telemedicine industry leaders.

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