Connected Care rural ‘telehealth’ project launches Tuesday
The Connected Care network, linking Coloradans to urban Front Range doctors via advanced teleconferencing, goes into action Tuesday after nearly a year in the planning stage.
Insurer UnitedHealthcare and hospital system Centura Health officially will launch the system at four rural facilities and three Front Range hospitals ― St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver, Littleton Adventist Hospital and St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo. Officials hope to expand the system in the future to more Centura Health facilities and to qualified community health centers, critical access hospitals and rural health clinics.
Connected Care clinics at four sites will use audio, video and medical technologies to connect patients with physicians specializing in several fields, including ear/nose/throat, cardiology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, critical care/pulmonology and pre- and post-surgery consultations. They are expected to serve as many as 4,800 patient visits per year.
"The launch of Connected Care helps eliminate distance as an obstacle to accessing needed health care in rural parts of Colorado," said Beth Soberg, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Colorado, in a news release. "These four sites, and the ones to follow, will build upon our state's current health care infrastructure and provide people in these locations with a more convenient way to receive quality care."
First announced last August, the system's official launch will take place during a scheduled 11 a.m. ceremony Tuesday at St. Anthony Central Hospital featuring Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien.
VIDEO: Watch a clip with details on the new Connected Care program.
The four rural facilities that will feature Connected Care clinics are:
- Buena Vista Family Practice;
- High Plains Community Health Center in Lamar;
- Rio Grande Hospital in Del Norte; and
- St. Vincent General Hospital in Leadville.
Patients can schedule telehealth appointments at the rural locations, which have been equipped with remote monitoring equipment such as digital stethoscopes and dermascopes as well as audio and video equipment. From there they can speak to specialists not typically available in rural areas.
The services will be provided via the Colorado Telehealth Network, a statewide fiber-optic network expected eventually to connect more than 400 hospitals, clinics and health care providers in the state, according to the release.
Steven Summer, president/CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association, called Connected Care "a great example of the new possibilities that CTN is helping to enable."
Filed under: online by Wolf