Telehealth Grantee Directory

Network Partners:

Major sites: Essex County Public Health Department, North Country Home Services, Inc., and The Visiting Nurse Association of Albany, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Inc. Operational since September 2005. Number of patients served between 1 OCT 05-30 SEP 06: 59.

Project Purpose:

Demonstrate whether the use of home telehealth: leads to better utilization of scarce home care personnel; has an impact on job satisfaction; improves access to care for patients; enhances overall patient satisfaction and quality of life; and presents an economic benefit to the health care system by reducing the frequency of home care, physician and emergency room visits as well as hospitalizations.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

(1) Patient satisfaction pre- and post-Likert survey instrument. (2) Staff satisfaction -pre and post Likert survey instrument; and (3) Reduction in the number of "physical" home care visits, unplanned physician visits; Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations-utilization tracking tool. Survey results indicate positive training experiences and positive perceptions of telehealth among patients and staff.

Service Area:

Essex County Public Health Department: Essex County; North Country Home Services, Inc.: Essex County; and The Visiting Nurse Association of Albany, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Inc.: portions of Rensselaer County and portions of Saratoga County.

Services Provided:

Community Health Care Services Foundation, Inc. (CHC) is partnering with three home care agencies to provide remote patient monitoring and education. Home telehealth units are placed in the homes of CHF patients to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, weight and oxygen saturation on a daily basis as well as obtain answers to health-related questions that ask patients about their condition.

Equipment:

(14) Viterion 100 home monitoring units with heart rate, blood pressure, weight scale and oxygen saturation peripherals. Viterion server and network for ongoing data transmission and collection.

Transmission:

POTs lines in patients home to transmit daily monitoring data. Home care agencies retrieve patient data using the Internet.

Network Partners:

WNY R-AHEC, Millard Fillmore-Gates Hospital, Medina Memorial Hospital, United Memorial Hospital, Wyoming County Hospital.

Project Purpose:

To conduct a pilot study to determine the need and effectiveness of telemedicine in rural hospitals, and to implement the project providing three rural WNY spoke hospitals, Medina Memorial Hospital, United Memorial Hospital, Wyoming County Hospital, the telemedicine systems to connect to a TeleStroke hub hospital, Millard Fillmore-Gates Hospital, as a part of the NY state TeleStroke Demonstration Project to treat stroke victims locally in a timely and effective manner.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

1. Improved outcomes in stroke victims served by the rural hospitals, based on hospital data.
2. Increased patient and provider satisfaction from surveys.
3. Increased management of stroke patient care (and thereby, increased revenues) at the rural hospitals.
4. Increase in the skill-sets of the rural clinical staff to treat and manage the stroke victims.

Service Area:

1. Medina Memorial Hospital, Medina, NY-Orleans County
2. United Memorial Medical Center, Batavia, NY-Genessee County
3. Wyoming County Hospital, Warsaw, NY-Wyoming County

Services Provided:

Neurological and radiological services for the treatment and management of stroke victims at the rural hospital, using a telemedicine link to a NY State-designated hub for stroke services. Implementation date: December, 2006.

Equipment:

ReachMD TeleStroke Cart, equipped with a medical grade pan-tilt-zoom camera, and a telestroke application on a laptop computer with NIH Stroke Scale over a wireless network.

Transmission:

Secure IP connection with minimum 768 kbps upload and minimum 256 kbps download speeds, over a secure wireless router and access point compatible with the 802.11a/b/g standards.

Network Partners:

Integrated Community Alternatives Network, Inc., Oneida County Department of Social Services, Capraro Technologies, Inc.

Project Purpose:

ICAN works under contract with Oneida County Department of Social Services to assist OCDSS in returning children from foster care placements. This software product allows for elimination of paper records, hearing of information between Kids Oneida and Oneida County and closer tracking and monitoring of client and family needs.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Provide increased assessment capabilities by tracking key demographic data, diagnosis information, placement histories, educational histories, and a child and family readiness assessment. This information is a shared data base for two agencies.

Service Area:

The geographic area for the program is Oneida County. Approximately 80 percent of the clients tracked in this system are currently living in foster care situations in Oneida County. Many children living outside the service area have been able to return to the County for services due to closer coordination of the foster care population.

Services Provided:

ICAN is a not for profit organization that serves children at high-risk for foster care placement. Children served exhibit a high degree of emotional, psychiatric, and behavioral disorders for children and ICAN provides 40 services addressing mental health, behavioral health, and family support services.

Equipment:

Integrated Community Alternatives Network, Inc. is currently using the existing network. ICAN has purchased a file server to store data and the software application for this project.

Transmission:

Integrated Community Alternatives Network is currently using a Fractional T1 line for transmission.

Network Partners:

Stony Brook University, Stony Brook University Hospital, LifeTree Technology.
This is not a clinical program.

Project Purpose:

The overarching purpose of this project is to develop and test the application of new technologies for the healthcare industry to help reduce its spiraling costs. The first goal is to add an enhancement to an already-developed clinical trial system to reduce the time to capture and process clinical trial data, while improving the accuracy of data collected. The second goal seeks to address the inability to recruit patients that is the single biggest cause of clinical trial delays, which thereby increases clinical period development costs, by developing a prototype patient eligibility system to identify potential clinical trial subjects when they arrive for Emergency Room treatment.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

The project will measure the time savings and the improvement in data quality, achieved by use of the software enhancement, which will permit electronic data exchange between the clinical site and the trial manager, in a realistic clinical environment, expecting at least 30 percent time savings and over 99 percent accuracy. The prototype eligibility system will investigate the use of portable XML documents and a rule-based system to identify candidates for a clinical trial from among patients in a typical ER setting, seeking to identify at least 10 eligible patients.

Service Area:

Not Applicable.

Services Provided:

Not Applicable.

Equipment:

Computers and related equipment as follows: HP Desktop PC, IBM Thinkpad Notebook, Elo Intuitive Touchscreen Monitor (2), HP Deskjet printer, SIIG Fiber Optic Switch, and Com SS3 Baseline Hub. Substitutions may be made if appropriate as the project moves forward.

Transmission:

Internet and T-3 high-speed broadband (campus is served by NYSERNET, bulk-buying aggregator for New York's research and education community)

Network Partners:

Community Health Centers in The Bronx, CFCC (FQHC), CHCC (FQHC), Montefiore Medical Center.

Project Purpose:

Implement an Ambulatory Electronic Medical Record which is fully integrated with the Hospitals Electronic Medical Record with remote access to all aspects of the Patients Care, including but not limited to lab results, radiology reports, medication history, electronic orders, Rx pad, PACs Radiology Images, etc. with a unique identifier for each patient. The EMR will be available at any time from any location in Montefiore's delivery network for all authorized clinicians.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Improved patient care resulting from immediate access to all episodes of care for the patient from any care location throughout Montefiore's delivery network. Access to a longitudinal view of lab and radiology results, problem list, medication history, allergies, all demographic information including insurance information to improve patient throughput and inpatient care. Insure continuity of care when patients travel between clinics and other delivery settings within the Montefiore Network.

Service Area:

All parts of The Bronx New York, Lower Westchester County and Northern Manhattan.

Services Provided:

Patient Registration, Laboratory and Radiology Results, Electronic Rx Pad, Radiology PACs images access, Online Order Entry, Patient Insurance and demographic information, Problem List, and Internet access.

Equipment:

The equipment needed for this project are Okidata and Rx Pad printers, PC Workstations, wireless devices, cables, Nortel equipment and IDX Software.

Transmission:

The Comprehensive Health Care Center CHCC site is connected to the Main Montefiore Communication Network via a T1 connection provided by Verizon Services. The T1 connects into a communication hub consisting of Nortel switches and routers which in turn links via category 5 cabling to workstations located throughout the facility.

Network Partners:

New York-Presbyterian/Allen Pavilion, Brooklyn Hospital, Queens Hospital, Lawrence Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Ambulatory Care Network.

Project Purpose:

• Link four hospitals in the New York area allowing patients to review their data and physicians to review data from institutions other than their own.
• Create a Regional Health Information Infrastructure to empower doctors, nurses, and patients with information so that patients can receive quality care wherever they are.
• Create a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that exchange of clinical data between academic medical centers and a community hospital can improve point-of-service care at all hospitals.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Improve patient care across the continuum of healthcare settings, including academic medical settings, community hospitals, physician offices and clinics.

Service Area:

NYC (Upper Manhattan), Brooklyn, Queens, and Westchester.

Services Provided:

Primary health care, health education, social services, mental health, care to special populations. In the near future, patients will be able to share data with providers outside of the participating institutions.

Equipment:

4 Dell PowerEdge Servers, 2 DELL/EMC CX700 Fiber Channel Storage Area Network (SAN).

Transmission:

Internet, T1

Network Partners:

Erie County Medical Center, Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation Program; The TLC Healthcare Network, 100 Memorial Dr., Gowanda, NY 14070 (Chautauqua & Cattaragus Counties); Wyoming County Community Health System, 400 N. Main St., Warsaw, NY 14569; Erie County Medical Center, Regional Resource Center & Healthcare Preparedness.

Project Purpose:

This project builds on a successful, state-wide correctional emergency telemedicine network (Y2003, >3000 patients, with 39 percent ER trip avoidance) to develop clinical services, distance learning (Grand Rounds) & informatics through rural and tertiary care hospital ER linkages. The project will improve health outcomes for victims of rural trauma (tele-trauma) through rural EMS telehealth coordination and a virtual-onsite trauma care partnership using wireless roll-abouts IP- based videoconferencing units. This will provide a flexible, scalable model for rural access and 24x7 mental health, serving children & adolescents, as well as adults.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Rural Trauma Care: Resuscitation times (arrival - transfer), mode of transfer, patients intubated -GCS < 12, blood administration when hypotensive, FAST ultrasound performed, length of admission/stay (LOS) ED trauma center, LOS in trauma center, time to OR, physiologic outcomes for trauma based on injury severity scores specific locations head/spinal injury, chest, abdominal, extremity injury. General indicators: patient/provider satisfaction -Likert surveys, quantifying patient usage of services provided through OAT GPRA, performance measures.

Service Area:

Chautauqua Co. (HPSA) 3 full, full mental, 27/30 cities full dental; MUAs #2401, #5034. Cattaraugus Co. (HPSA) 5 full, full mental, full dental; MUAs #2409, #2410. Wyoming Co. (HPSA) 3 full, full dental, MUAs #2396, #2408.

Services Provided:

Emergency / Trauma (Tele-trauma), Mental Health, Emergency Mental Health, Child /Adolescent Psychiatry, Ortho-Hand, Infectious Disease / HIV, Gastroenterology. Planned Services 2007: Maxillo-Facial, Dermatology, Pediatric Emergency / Trauma, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Specialties, Dental.

Equipment:

Wireless IP roll-about videoconferencing units, Polycom codecs, Dual-screen consultation systems, networking hubs, Cisco routers, PictureTel/Polycom Videoconferencing units, document cameras.

Transmission:

Full T1 connections with IP transmission network protocols, ISDN.

Network Partners:

St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center (Smithtown, NY), Huntington Hospital (Huntington, NY), University Hospital at SUNY Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY). Network established in December 2005. Actual number of patients served 1 OCT 05-30 SEP 06: 0 since system installation will not begin until November 2006. Patients to be served 1 OCT 06-30 SEP 07: 860.

Project Purpose:

Develop an interoperable electronic medical record program including computerized physician-order entry suitable for post-acute care and long term care. This program will be designed with the potential to exchange critical health information with other clinical settings, particularly acute care hospitals.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Provider satisfaction, enhanced communication, improved compliance with required documentation, decreased time to document history and physical examination (measures)-Survey of medical staff (tool); Reduction of medial errors that occur during transitional care, decreased rate of illegible or incomplete orders, better reconciliation of medications (measure)-Review of medical records of medication errors (tool).

Service Area:

Suffolk County, including three acute care hospitals.

Services Provided:

Provides long term care services, assisted living, home care, ventilator dependent care, subacute care, adult day care, hospice services. Dialysis services will begin in early 2007.

Equipment:

Optimus EMR software, Hewlett Packard Laptops and computers, Palm Pilots, Pocket PCs, printers.

Transmission:

Internet, T1 lines.