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VA Patients Get Face-to-Face Service Across the Miles
October 2, 1998
Psychiatrist John Lehrmann has face-to-face sessions with veterans
seeking mental health therapy served by Iron Mountain's Veterans Affairs
Medical Center in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
However, doctor and patient aren't in the same room. They aren't
even in the same state. Dr. Lehrmann is more than 200 miles away at the
Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee. Lehrmann sees his
patients, as well as their local health providers, over an interactive
television system.
Telemental Health Developed from Video-conferencing
Video-conferencing is common in business, but VA is using such
systems to diagnose and treat patients with mental health problems. Doctors
like Lehrmann can work a television camera on the top of a patient's
television set. He can zoom in, when necessary, to check for a variety of
symptoms that shows up in facial expressions and body language.
Telemental health clinics are a way of treating patients in remote
areas where they don't have psychiatrists. "The ability to see the patient
is very important," Lehrmann said. "With this equipment, we can get a good
view." Likewise, a patient can see the physician, which is also very
important.
VTEL Corporation of Austin, TX, makes the interactive video
equipment, which transmits the signals over telephone lines. It was
developed initially for teleconferencing. Michael Erdmann, chief of staff at
the Zablocki VA, says that other kinds of health professionals can use
intereactive television systems to reach patients.
Program Delivers Better Service and Cuts Costs
Before the telemental health program started, Iron Mountain patients
had to wait up to three months to see a psychiatrist. The wait is now less
than one month dependent on individual needs.
Telemental health not only serves patients, it also saves money. The
$80,000 system means that Iron Mountain doesn't have to have certain
specialists on their staffs and the cost of bringing mental patients to
Milwaukee is eliminated.
VA's Telemedicine Project Was Semi-finalist in Prestigious Award
This program is just one aspect of the much bigger
telemedicine project that the Iron Mountain and Milwaukee VA
Medical Centers have underway to improve service, share resources, and
cut costs. As a result, VA physicians in Milwaukee perform all imaging
and pathology studies for Iron Mountain. For its innovations, the
telemedicine program was named a 1998 semi-finalist in the prestigious
Innovations in American Government Award.
Programs like telemedicine are on their way to achieving Vice
President Gore's vision in his 1997 report, Access America. "The kind
of government we'll have as we begin the next century," the Vice
President said, "will be a government where all Americans have the
opportunity to get services electronically and where, aided by
technology, the productivity of government operations will be
soaring."
For More Information
For more information, contact John W. Zewiske,
Community Relations Office, Zablocki Veterans Medical Center,
Milwaukee, (414) 382-5363 or john.zewiske@med.va.gov.
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