The Arizona Telemedicine Program Blog

Yuma Regional Medical Center in Southwestern Arizona has been named one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospitals – an award given annually by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum.

It’s the second consecutive year the Yuma hospital has won the award.

“It is very, very satisfying to know that we have reached that milestone,” said Fred Peet, Yuma Regional’s chief information officer. “But we still recognize that there is always room for improvement, and we continue to look for opportunities to provide technology to assist in the care of our patients, so we can make their experience that much more enjoyable.”

Michelle Carter had high expectations when she walked into the Regency Ballroom at the second national Telemedicine & Telehealth Service Provider Showcase 2016, held in Phoenix, June 21-22.

Ms. Carter, the clinical support director at Canyonlands Health Care in Page, Arizona, had attended the first Service Provider Showcase (SPS) in 2014.

“Both years, I’ve learned more and more about new and innovative ways to deliver care in the very rural communities we serve,” she said.

Arizona is now one of 17 states to sign on to the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which provides an expedited licensing process for physicians interested in practicing in multiple states.

Another nine states have introduced legislation to join the Compact, which is expected to expand access to health care for people living in rural and underserved areas of the country, while facilitating the use of telemedicine in those areas.

Way back in 1993, Robert “Bob” Burns, then a state legislator, attended a conference in Scottsdale about the benefits of telemedicine. Delivering health care long-distance, while saving health care dollars, sounded like a great way to bring health care to Arizona’s seriously underserved rural communities. He went back to the Legislature and presented his idea for a telemedicine pilot program to fellow lawmakers. They and state budget analyst John Lee found a way to make it work.

Like many first-time users of new technology, clinicians taking part in an NIH-funded study to reduce asthma morbidity in elementary school children had some doubts.

But after several months of monitoring children from a distance, using 3M Littman Bluetooth stethoscopes, they were nearly 100 percent in favor of the new technology.