I can think of no more rewarding use of broadband communications services than the application of the Internet to healthcare, known as telemedicine.   Telemedicine brings patients and health professionals together regardless of geographic location so as to provide consultations, ongoing care and health related distance learning. I am the Medical Director in the Office of Telemedicine for the University of Virginia Medical System and President of the American Telemedicine Association.  I am also a  pediatric cardiologist, which  provides me with real-life, experience in the uses of Telemedicine.

As an example, on New Year’s Day 2000, a newborn's abnormal echocardiogram was transmitted from a cardiologist in Winchester, Virginia – about 130 miles away – to my office in Charlottesville.  Through the use of broadband, I was able to spot a very rare, imminently life-threatening but treatable cardiac defect in the newborn.  Broadband helped to save that baby’s life.

Hundreds of my colleagues at the University of Virginia have supported thousands of clinical encounters using broadband communications networks since our program launched in 1995.  Via our network, physicians and patients participate in  clinical consultations with specialists at our Medical Center without bearing the burden, expense and in some cases, the discomfort of travel many hours from home.   We are about to launch a home telehealth program in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and Comcast.  We work with Verizon to connect many patients from Virginia’s federally qualified health centers. We provide mobile digital mammography services in rural Virginia linking back to our radiologists for early reads via our broadband communications network.  

At the University of Virginia Office of Telemedicine we collaborate with our ACCME accredited  University of Virginia Office of Continuing Medical Education .  We  bring the highest quality  cutting edge clinical information, and research findings to physicians and other health professionals via our web based and broadcast educational programs that spare physicians the burden of long distance travel for educational programs. . Sometimes,  we have   the opportunity to also participate in non-medical opportunities that  brighten all our lives.  Through a service we have named “Freedom Calls” we’ve used our facilities to bring families in the Commonwealth of Virginia together with their loved ones serving in the military  overseas.  Recently we helped facilitate a visit with a soldier serving in Fallujah, Iraq which allowed him to watch his young daughter walk for the first time.

At the Office of Telemedicine we believe we have just scratched  the surface of the benefits of broadband in the arena of heath care.  We are working hard to push the envelope to better serve our patients when they need us, regardless of distance from our Medical Center.

Dr. Karen Rheuban is President of the American Telemedicine Association and Medical Director of the Office of Telemedicine at the University of Virginia.