Beginning in 1999, the Phoenix Area IHS began developing a vision of healthcare service
delivery that includes several innovative pathways. An important one of these pathways is
the use of electronic technology to provide diagnostic, treatment, and educational
services over a long distance – commonly called Telehealth or
Telemedicine.
There have been a number of successful individual telehealth projects within the
Southwestern IHS in recent years – which have involved such specialties as tele-radiology
for the reading of diagnostic images using “store and forward” technology; and
tele-psychiatry and tele-cardiology to provide “live” interactive sessions involving
local patients and distant specialists. These have generally been programs linking two
specific sites. Their success has not only provided early benefits to Native American
people served by the Phoenix Area, but has also contributed to the Area’s understanding
of using telehealth technology in a networked system.
The Phoenix Area’s embracing of this technology has grown to include acquisition
of high-capacity transmission lines linking Service Units and tribal sites; an increasing
partnership relationship with the
Arizona Telemedicine Program
at the University of Arizona; and the establishment of an Area Telehealth Coordinator position to promote
clinical utilization of this emerging telehealth system.
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