The Regional Health Command Europe (RHCE) http://rhce.amedd.army.mil Advancement of Telehealth team was awarded the quarterly Wolf Pack Award.by the U.S Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). Sponsored by the MEDCOM civilian Corps, the award is intended to recognize the successes of teams in Army Medicine.The RHCE telehealth team was recognized for establishing and advancing the first hospital-wide real-time telehealth platform within MEDCOM. The telehealth system enables patients at remote clinics to interact with Landstuhl Regional Medical Center located in Germany http://rhce.amedd.army.mil/landstuhl/index.cfm with providers in more than two dozen specialties via a video link.
“What is so incredible is that our civilian and military staff can work together not only in Landstuhl but also with the Regional Health Command Europe with Landstuhl as the hub”, reports Ronald Keen RHCE Telehealth Chief.
Since patients in their local clinics can be seen by telehealth without traveling to Landstuhl, the program has saved soldiers, beneficiaries, and their commanders an estimated 2,050 work or school days and $1.34 million in travel-related expenses.
What sets the RHCE telehealth program apart from others in MEDCOM is that specialized personnel were hired to support the program. The program includes four specially trained nurses with action to bring a fifth aboard to fill a need in the program. Each telehealth nurse is trained with individual specialty providers on how to do the examinations and how to use the equipment needed to perform these exams.
The nurses are currently in place in Germany at the Wiesbaden, Stuttgart, Vilseck Army Health Clinics, and the Vicenza Army Health Center in Italy. There are plans to soon have a nurse also stationed at the SHAPE Army Health Clinic in Belgium.
Keen said, “He hopes to continue expanding telehealth to include more clinics as well as the TRICARE remote population.” The team’s latest venture is to use telehealth to help shorten the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) process to make it easier for providers, Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officers, and patients to get information needed on their medical condition to the IDES.