AMD Global Telemedicine Inc. (AMD) has released Telemed ED, a school-based clinical telemedicine system that enables children to be seen by a healthcare provider without leaving school for an appointment.
Telemed ED was developed by AMD with the help of school practitioners, to help expand the access that schools have to quality health resources. This all-in-one packaged system comes equipped with the hardware, software, and medical devices needed to perform a clinical telemedicine exam on a child or teenager.
Telemed ED includes a camera, digital stethoscope, digital otoscope, AGNES a web-based telemedicine workspace that combines all the tools and technologies required to execute a clinical telemedicine encounter, point-to-point 2-way video conferencing, PC, monitor, printer, webcam, speaker, and microphone mobile cart.
In another project using telehealth to help children with special needs, Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has developed a new telehealth program that uses a live video stream. This enables healthcare professionals at EMU’s Autism Collaborative Center (ACC) to expand care to rural or disadvantaged families in the state with a child or young adult diagnosed with autism. Grant funding for $500,000 came from the State of Michigan and $25,000 came from AT&T.
Approximately 16,000 children and young adults in the state have a form of autism according to the Autism Alliance of Michigan. The clients range from 18 months old to a client who is in his late 50s. The program supports not only autistic children but also as they age. Treatment for children and young adults with autism requires intensive individualized intervention at an average cost of $50,000 per year.
EMU’s ACC specializes in a collaborative approach offering services ranging from speech therapy to nutrition to music therapy. EMU’s program is one of the few in the state to have a multidisciplinary program.
The program has really helped Kelly and Steve VanSingel, of Saline Michigan with two daughters with autism ages 11 and 7. The family has been using the ACCs services since it first opened in 2009. Prior to the ACCs opening, the VanSingels were forced to drive quite a distance for their oldest daughter’s therapy.
In another teleheath program, UCLA is studying how to deliver pediatric behavioral health services using telehealth with funding obtained from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) for an award of $1.6 million. The funding is going to the Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.
The study will use video conferencing to deliver behavioral health services to pediatric patients in community primary care settings. The study will examine whether using telehealth technology can be effective to deliver integrated services to children in low-income communities.
The project brings together UCLA researchers from general pediatrics, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, the UCLA/RAND Prevention Research Center, and the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society to work in partnership with Northeast Valley Health Corp which is one of the nation’s largest community health centers.