I had the distinct pleasure of presenting at the Connected Care press release today, the official launch of telemedicine services in four of our rural communities: Buena Vista Family Practice in Buena Vista, High Plains Community Health Center in Lamar, Rio Grande Hospital in Del Norte, and St. Vincent General Hospital in Leadville. Connected Care is a state of the art telemedicine program and is a partnership between UnitedHealthcare, Centura Health, Colorado Rural Health Center, Colorado Community Health Network and Colorado Telehealth Network to provide remote access to specialty care for rural patients. I also had the opportunity to see a live visit between a patient in Leadville and a physician at St. Anthony Central in Denver. I marveled at the personal feel of the visit as well as the amazing clarity of the information being relayed real-time through the digital stethoscope and odoscope. Through telemedicine programs like this, rural community members have access to specialty care locally and won't have the financial, quality of life, and health burdens that are often of having to travel over 200 miles to access care. I look forward to continuing to be a part of this innovative and exciting project and sharing the best practices with other rural communities across our state. For the news release, click here.
