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Click to learn more about what Telehealth means for the physician.
Benefits to Correctional
Cost - Significant reduction in transportation cost
 
Access - Primary care physicians and physician specialists available without
transport
 
Quality - Timely medical consultation for illness or injury
 
Risk - Reduces the security issues for the community of transporting inmates; avoids reduced staffing while corrections officers transport inmates
 
Documentation - Integrated EMR; real-time electronic/visual records can improve the defense of the physician’s actions
 
Other potential benefits include use for employee health exams and workers compensation injuries; site-to-site videoconferencing.

 

State and county correctional facilities are unable to provide consistent or timely health care to inmates. Most have difficulty recruiting trained healthcare professionals and it is often the case that physicians who have practices in the community are unwilling to travel to correctional facilities to provide care. For example, mental health assessment and counseling is a high need area, however, most correctional facilities do not have sufficient numbers of staff psychiatrists and thus require the use of outside providers.

DTN's telehealth solution eliminates the need for travel by either inmate or physician by providing immediate access to physicians and physician specialists potentially hundreds or thousands of miles away, without any travel involved. Our established physician specialist network includes specialists recommended by primary care doctors to replicate existing referring patterns (Tier 1) and specialists from academic medical centers and medical groups (Tier 2).

A Telehealth End Point (TEP), or mobile "exam room", that includes a moveable color video camera used in conjunction with selected digital medical equipment peripherals, is set up at each site with a direct link to the physician. It enables physicians and physician specialists located remotely to diagnose many types of medical conditions without the need to transport the inmate. It also allows local caregivers to give urgent care quickly.

In cases where inmates require surgery, the DTN telehealth solution allows on-site physicians to consult with remote specialists on pre-operative and post-operative treatments, and the inmate need only be transferred for the actual surgical procedure.

As a low cost solution DTN allows correctional facilities to reap the benefits of telehealth without any financial barrier to entry. If you would like to explore this opportunity in more detail please call us at 949-553-0887 or even Request a Telehealth Assessment.

ATA - American Telemedicine AssociationTIE - Telemedicine Information Exchange