The “Telehealth Education Delivered” (TED) vehicle came to the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison Wisconsin www.madison.va.gov in May to demonstrate how telemedicine can be effective. TED is equipped with technologies to enable any facility to provide education and training on a range of telehealth and patient care solutions.
The Madison VA Hospital is a 129 bed facility that provides healthcare for about 42,000 veterans who live in a 13,600 square mile primary service area comprising 15 counties in south central Wisconsin and five counties in northwestern Illinois, plus the hospital also operates annex clinics.
The VA Hospital www.madison.va.gov/news/Telehealth.asp provides telehealth throughout the Great Lakes region and provides services in:
- Telemental health which has expanded with over 100 providers offering a range of services
- Teleaudiology is currently provided to fit hearing aids with follow-up appointments and there are future plans to extend services to more rural areas
- Tele Pain Coping program helps veterans with chronic illnesses by using video conferencing with local clinics to help veterans cope with pain on a daily basis as well as manage pain flare ups
- Tele Spinal Cord Injury program enables veterans to have access to specialty medical consultations, consult with physical and occupational therapists, have post-operative follow-up, and receive care for complex psychosocial concerns
- TeleMove is a national weight management program to help veterans lose weight and keep it off. On average 85-100 patients are seen per month using state-of-the-art technologies
The VA hospital also provides telehealth in specialty areas such as rheumatology, infectious diseases, follow-up visits for veterans with TB, HIV, suppression antibiotic therapy, complications from diabetes, and post-transplant and post-surgical issues.
In addition, telehealth is used for thoracic surgery to enable providers to request virtual consultations to review abnormal chest imaging. Telehealth has also been used across VISNs regarding lung transplantation or Lung Volume Reduction Surgery.