Technology in Communications

HISTech Report published an interview with Laurie Johnson, executive director of  AT&T’s Industry Solutions Group, discussing the company’s products and services that can be valuable tools for the health care industry. (Any quotes from Johnson below are from the HISTech Report interview). Whether it’s AT&T or another carrier, there are products coming on the market that have the potential to have a real impact on how physicians interact with patients and provide care.

Wireless networks have the ability to carry voice, data and video. The latter becomes particularly interesting when we realize that a camera can be brought to the patient, regardless of where they are. This very portability is what makes this technology so powerful. In rural parts of Japan, nurse practitioners are using cell phones to transmit fetal monitor tracings to OBs at the nearest hospital (in one case, 200 miles away) for review and guidance before moving a patient several hours. AT&T offers a service dubbed “AT&T Video Share” where users can take and send live video from their mobile device – allowing another mobile phone user to see exactly what they are seeing. “A home healthcare nurse at a patient’s home can send a video of the patients wound to a physician”, says Johnson in the interview, “and get a recommendation on the spot or determine whether the patient needs to come to the hospital for further evaluation or treatment. The nurse and physician can have a live conversation while viewing the video together.” As with many new technologies, it is the users who will drive the application and benefits. “We’re in the early stages of seeing what other healthcare applications can benefit from Video Share. Customers can see the value and have already asked for enhancements such as transmitting the video to a PC, or to other mediums so they can share the video” notes Johnson.

I tell this story often – back in the mid-1990s when I was running a community based cardiology practice, it was a big deal when we installed fax machines in the homes of the physicians simply to get the EKG sent over of patients who had arrived in the ER. The technology is out there, now it’s time to apply it. This is the kind of technology that can shave minutes off physician time and improves the quality of information being fed to the physician. Physicians will be handling more chronic situations over time, and need as a society we need the ability to efficiently and effectively monitor people. We will be able to use technology combined with better trained office staff to triage information, something which can improve physician effectiveness.

Keep an eye as these services and products develop.