Telehealth Grantee Directory

Network Partners:

St. Mary's Hospital, 701 Lewiston St., Cottonwood, ID 83522; clinics in Orofino, Cottonwood, Kamiah, Pierce, Kooskia, Nezperce, Craigmont, and Grangeville, ID. Partnership operational since February, 1998. Actual number of patient encounters 1 October 05 - 30 September 06: 44,591. Estimated number of patient encounters October 06 - September 07: 49,050.

Project Purpose:

Bring safer, more effective health care to clinics and hospitals in a 3-county region of frontier north-central Idaho. Hardware and software will be purchased and installed for a joint electronic medical records deployment involving two critical access hospitals and 12 associated clinics. Intensive training will be provided for effective use of the software. Physicians will be able to view patient charts instantly from any system location or from home. Standardized patient records will alert busy physicians to drug contraindications, allergies, and anomalous lab results.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

• Hardware and software installed.
• Training completed for end-users of active modules.

Service Area:

Three contiguous counties in frontier north-central Idaho, serving 14 HPSAs and three MUAs. All have whole country Geographic Mental Health HPSAs. Clearwater-MUA and Geographic Primary Care HPSA and low-income Population Group HPSA in Primary Care; clinics in Orofino and Pierce; Lewis-Geographic and Facility Primary Care HPSAs, MUA and MUP designations; clinics in Kooskia and Kamiah; Idaho-low-income Population Group and Geographic HPSAs in Primary Care, clinics in Cottonwood, Grangeville, Nezperce, and Craigmont.

Services Provided:

Clearwater Valley and St. Mary's Hospitals and their associated clinics joined forces in 1998. They provide primary and acute care services, including surgery, OB, home health, and physical therapy. Both hospitals have digital library services. All sites expect to implement EMR in 2006. Teleradiology services may be expanded.

Equipment:

Meditech software modules; network servers and personal workstations and printers.

Transmission:

Full T1 lines between hospitals and Kamiah clinic; wireless or dial-up Internet access at clinic sites; VPN tunnel between sites.

Network Partners:

Community: 12 hospitals, two clinics, one dental practice, one hospital network (five hospitals), and four State associations. University: The College of Pharmacy, Idaho Health Sciences Library, Dental Sciences, Clinical Psychology, Family Medicine, and Hispanic Health Center. Corporate: Healthwise, Inc. & Well Diagnostics. Operational August 1, 2001.

Project Purpose:

Improve access to healthcare for people in rural and frontier Idaho and support a statewide telehealth resource center designed to improve access across the spectrum of health care, including oral, physical, and mental/behavioral health. The program takes a 3-pronged approach to increase, extend, and preserve health professionals in Idaho (see specific objectives below).

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Improved quality and quantity of access to healthcare for people living in Idaho's rural and frontier areas (Goal 1). We also have established a statewide telehealth resource center (Goal 2). An anticipated overarching outcome is a healthcare culture change incorporating Health Information Technology (HIT) among health professionals in Idaho. Below are our three objectives and the outcome measures used to evaluate them.

• Objective 1: Increase the workforce through new and upgraded education: Frequency counts of sessions, participants, and a standardized, self-report course evaluation.
• Objective 2: Extend the reach of existing providers by using telehealth-based supervision and consultation. Frequency counts, standardize self-report evaluations for direct patient care.
• Objective 3: Preserve Existing Professionals: Data is collected from health professionals using standardized measures of (a) telehealth utilization (b) overall quality of life (Life Status Review, LSR) and (c) professional quality of life (The Professional Quality of Life Scale, ProQOL). Data area also collected on frequency of use for various online tools such as the digital medical library.

Service Area:

Entire state of Idaho. The 44 counties include 36 HPSAs, 30 DPSAs, 44 MPSAs, 28 MUAs.

Services Provided:

Technical support, digital medical library, clinical services, new and continuing health professions education, and the Tel Ida Toolbox, a health informatics website. Specializations include professional quality of life, geriatrics, traumatic brain injury, community integration, mental health, health services, health economics, traumatic stress, and cultural competency. Business analysis and cost-effectiveness studies.

Equipment:

Wide range, including virtual program centers and webconferencing applications, as requested by partners. Emphasis is on interoperability, data security, and HIPAA compliance.

Transmission:

Hybrid, utilizing what is available (i.e. POTS, ISDN, ADSL, cable, and wireless).

Network Partners:

Five northern Idaho county hospitals in St. Maries, Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, Coeur d' Alene, and Kellogg; three school districts in Wallace, Kootenai, and Priest River; and North IdahoBehavioral Health.

Project Purpose:

Extend existing service providers, by further developing and expanding telehealth treatment applications, to better serve the rural population of northern Idaho. Increase access to quality healthcare and improve patient safety through the use of telecommunications and digital technologies specifically in the areas of mental health, hospital and school-based rehabilitative therapies, pathology, pharmacy, and electronic medical records.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

EXTEND will evaluate the feasibility, quality of care, cost-effectiveness, satisfaction, and outcomes data related to delivering healthcare using telehealth techniques. Quantitative and qualitative measurements are integrated into each telehealth application.

Service Area:

Five counties in northern Idaho: Boundary, Bonner, Kootenai, Shoshone, and Benwah counties.

Services Provided:

Electronic Medical Records (2005), telepharmacy (2004), telepathology (2004), hospital and school based telerehabilitative therapies (2003), telemental health (2002), professional continuing medical education (1996), distance learning (1996), and administrative meetings (1996).

Equipment:

Tandberg 880 videoconferencing unit, Polycom FX viewstation, and Vtel TC2000 videoconferencing unit.

Transmission:

IP Wide Area Network (WAN) between hospitals with Primary Rate ISDN gateway access to the school district networks.

Network Partners:

Participating Sites: Portneuf Medical Center-hub (Pocatello, ID), eight hospitals located in Southeast Idaho and West Wyoming, and a Federally Qualified Health Center with various sites in Idaho; Project partners include: Idaho State University, Partners in Health Telemedicine Network.

Project Purpose:

CTN will focus on developing a network that enables residents in rural /frontier counties to have access to mental health and other clinical services typically available only in urban settings. CTN will enable us to meet the goals of increasing quality and years of healthy life and eliminating health disparities by making needed specialty mental health services available at the local hospitals for all rural residents.

Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:

Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health will evaluate the feasibility, quality of care, cost-effectiveness, satisfaction, and outcomes data related to delivering healthcare using telehealth. Quantitative and qualitative measurements are included into each clinical and educational telehealth application. CTN will measure performance with the OAT GPRA tool.

Service Area:

The Eastern Idaho Telehealth Network will serve the following Idaho and Wyoming counties: Bannock, Bingham, Caribou, Lemhi, Madison, Minidoka, Oneida, Power, Teton, Lincoln (WY). The total geographic area covered by the Eastern Idaho Telehealth Network participants is approximately 25,000 square miles.

Services Provided:

Cooperative Telehealth Network will be providing mental health services (February 2007) and distant education for hospital staff (CMEs, CEUs) and community members (diabetes management, healthy living, depression). Other possible clinical services include dermatology, orthopedics, and radiology.

Equipment:

Participating Sites: 6 Tandberg 880 MXP IP Units with Natural Presenter Software (equipment vendor-Wire One Technologies)

Transmission:

Full point-to-point T-1 lines will be used from participating sites to the hub site (Portneuf Medical Center).