I’ve previously pointed out the seemingly inevitable trend toward remote medical care. A Fresno Bee article about how telemedicine is helping relieve the doctor shortage in California’s Central Valley is just another illustration of this trend.
Nobody doubts the potential of telemedicine. Clinics across the Valley increasingly are giving it a try.
One of the newest projects in the Valley is a teledentistry service offered by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to children in Lindsay, Woodlake and Cutler-Orosi elementary schools. The first remote dental examination was done in December.
More centers are on the way. In November 2006, voters approved Proposition 1D, a bond measure that provides $200 million over two years to expand the University of California medical schools and telemedicine programs.
As a result, the Fresno campus of the University of California at San Francisco received $2 million for teleconferencing and telemedicine. The money will be used to connect specialists with patients in rural Valley areas, said Dr. Joan Voris, associate dean at the Fresno medical school campus. The first consultations are expected to begin by July.
The article also describes remote diagnoses of a dermatological condition:
In a Madera examining room, a doctor takes a digital picture of a sesame-seed-sized lump on Julianna Moore’s left eyelid and sends it out over the Web.
The picture pops up on a dermatologist’s computer screen 130 miles away, and in minutes, Moore gets a diagnosis that she might otherwise not have received for months, if ever.
Over time, people will become more and more comfortable with these types of interactions. This will likely change people’s “gut reaction” against internet prescribing and may result in more thoughtful regulation than we’ve seen until now.
