TinyEYE: Benefits of Telepractice as per New York State Education Department

Hi Everyone,

I just came across a report from the New York State Education Department regarding Telepractice (not just in Speech-Langauge Pathology).

Here's a portion:

Telepractice may improve the delivery, cost and accessibility of health care and other professional services. The following are examples of potential advantages in health care:

Care can be delivered more quickly
While it may take, in some instances, a day or so for an X-ray or report to be delivered via the postal service, the same delivery can be done via the Internet or by facsimile in a matter of minutes or seconds. The implications for this are significant, especially when an emergency diagnosis is needed. Using the Internet to send an X-ray of a child's compound fractured wrist from the site of an accident in rural Monroe County to the radiologist in Rochester General Hospital could potentially save that child from losing wrist mobility.

Professional services may be delivered less expensively
Using telepractice may reduce patient travel expense when treatment is needed from a provider at a distant location. Similarly, a provider's cost for treating a patient through technology usually involves less overhead expense than an actual face-to-face visit. For example, even though there may not be any pediatric dermatologists within miles, a child living in rural Essex County, suffering from bromhidrosis (a rare, severe condition affecting the skin) could be examined by a pediatric dermatologist practicing at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City without having to travel to Manhattan. Similarly, in the engineering profession, a multitude of design configurations that previously could only be transmitted via the postal service can now be transmitted instantly, and real-time changes can now be made in consultation with professionals located throughout the country.

Telepractice will allow for the delivery of care to previously underserved areas
Rural and inner-city areas that are currently underserved by general practitioners, medical specialists and other health care providers will benefit from the technology that will allow their residents greater access to services. A radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, for example, would be able to assist a member of the Iroquois nation in a rural area, remote from health care centers.

The quality of care may be improved with the use of telepractice
Both consumers and professionals now have access to resources beyond those available in their immediate area. A patient living in Elmira could have her lab tests immediately analyzed by a specialist in New York City.

The full report can be viewed at http://www.op.nysed.gov/telepractice.htm

If a school district in your area needs Speech-Language Pathologists, please let me know by email as we at TinyEYE can help!