Technology: Changing the Face of Healthcare Delivery in Montana

Glendive, Montana—a town of less than 5,000 not far from the North Dakota border—is a great spot for catching paddlefish, hunting for dinosaur fossils or hiking through prairie badlands. It’s not, however, a good place to find a cancer specialist. The “local” oncologist—and, for that matter, the local neurologist, cardiologist, and pulmonologist—all work in Billings, more than 220 miles away. The typical Montana driver would need to hit the road three hours before an appointment, earlier if coffee stops are on the schedule.

But seriously ill people in Glendive no longer have to wear out their tires to see a specialist. Instead, they only have to go as far as the videoconference monitor at the Glendive Medical Center on Prospect Drive. Sitting in front of a screen equipped with a microphone and video camera, cancer patients can visit with oncologist Jorge Nieva, M.D., from his office at the Billings Clinic. With a 20-inch monitor of his own on his office desk—one of 15 such monitors at the clinic—Nieva can see his patients’ faces, ask about their symptoms, and give them advice about medications, all through a completely secure and private line. A trained nurse in Glendive takes vital signs and, if needed, strategically positions a long-distance stethoscope so Nieva can listen to hearts and lungs.

“It’s just as if the patients were sitting in the room with me.”

By Chris Wolston

Full Story: http://www.matr.net/files/MTBusTech09summer.pdf

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Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network is a consortium of not-for-profit medical and mental health facilities linking health care providers and their patients throughout Montana and Wyoming.

Thousands of patients have benefited from the care provided through EMTN. In 2002, EMTN was recipient of the American Telemedicine Association’s President’s Award for the Advancement of Telemedicine. http://www.emtn.org/