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Cisco Systems announces that it is setting up a pilot program in California to explore advanced telemedicine applications is an indication both of the increasing attraction of health IT to major companies.

A recent announcement by networking giant Cisco Systems that it is setting up a pilot program in California to explore advanced telemedicine applications is an indication both of the increasing attraction of health IT to major companies, and the importance of upcoming decisions on U.S. broadband deployment.

The two-year California Telemedicine Pilot Project is being launched at over 15 sites in total, in conjunction with Molina Healthcare, two community health centers in San Diego and the state of California. The goal is to provide health and wellness services to both underserved and underinsured communities throughout the state.

It combines complex communications technologies—including high-definition cameras and new digital medical scope technologies—to deliver a realtime, immersive experience which Cisco claims is new to healthcare.
In fact, company officials claim the technology, dubbed HealthPresence, creates a doctor-patient experience so authentic that it is now feasible to consider telemedicine as a replacement for face-to-face visits.

For Cisco, the pilot program is a proof-of-concept project which isn’t necessarily about the technology, Safavi said, since much of that is known to work. Instead, it’s how the technology will work in practice and how the various healthcare providers that need to be involved will work with each other.

A big part of that is also deciding what the regulatory and legal needs are, which is why the kind of public-private partnership that’s involved with the California pilot is so important, Safavi said. That will be even more important if the technology is to expand nationwide, and connect organizations across state lines.

Government role Given the bandwidth needed for the real-time video portion of HealthPresence, it’s no accident that California was chosen as the location for the pilot.

It has already commited to boosting statewide broadband capacity via avenues such as the California Telehealth Network.

Source: govhealthit

You can get more details about telemedicine & its related topics from our Teleradiology Group.