Northern California-based Sutter Health one of several U.S. healthcare networks is investing in MDLIVE. Through MDLIVE, consumers with non-emergency medical problems are able to have direct, anytime, anywhere access to doctors.
MDLIVE connects consumers with board-certified physicians and therapists nationwide via telephone, email, and via videoconferencing. MDLIVE is a covered benefit provided by a growing number of self-funded employers and health plans.
MDLIVE does not replace a patient’s primary care physician, but provides additional medical options for patients needing after hours care, helps patients without a primary care physician, and helps patients that have a non-emergency but at the same time, have a time sensitive health concern where they immediately need to see a doctor.
In another project, Sutter Health now collaborating with IBM and Geisinger Health System was awarded a $2 million NIH grant to study heart failure prediction. The goal is to develop new and sophisticated big data analytics and application methods to help doctors detect heart failure years sooner than is now possible.
The collaborators will use NIH funding to develop practical and cost-effective early detection methods to use in primary care practices using an EHR system. The researchers aim to create a deeper understanding of how to use the data contained within EHRs plus use advanced analytics to help detect heart failure earlier.
They are also working to identify best practices to help health systems nationwide integrate big data analytics into primary care. This approach will help doctors and caregivers use evidence-based insights to be able to partner with patients to identify and personalize more tailored treatment options.
EHR data provides demographics, medical histories, information on medications and allergies, laboratory test results, and much more. Sophisticated analysis of this data is able to help doctors identify the patient’s risk of heart failure and reveal signals and patterns that are indicative of certain outcomes.
Once patients are identified as high-risk for heart failure, physicians can better monitor their status, help motivate a patient to make potentially life-saving lifestyle changes, and test clinical interventions to potentially slow or possibly reverse heart failure progression.
To make healthcare more accessible to many individuals in Oregon and California, Charter Communications and the Oregon Health Network have completed a broadband fiber optic network to bring advanced capabilities for video telemedicine, broadband internet speeds, and high definition television to customers in southern Oregon and Crescent City California.
The completed fiber optic network is the final segment of an 87 mile route consisting of a 720GB circuit with capacity to serve thousands of people across multiple cities. Now people living in rural California and in Oregon communities are able to use enhanced telemedicine services at Sutter Coast Hospital. Also, a new 1GB circuit connects directly to Sutter Coast hospital that has the capability to transmit an MRI X-ray in less than one second or a pathological study in about eight seconds.
The $1.6 million broadband fiber optic network investment includes contributions from Charter, the Oregon Department of Education, High Desert Education Service District, and the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program through the Oregon Health Network.
For more information, go to www.sutterhealth.org.