Cisco’s and the state of California announced a pilot program using Cisco HealthPresence, their telemedicine platform, in over 15 health centers throughout the state. The pilot to deliver primary and specialty care services includes Molina Healthcare locations, Mountain Health and Community Services (San Diego), La Maestra Community Health Centers (San Diego), with a planned expansion to the University of California at Davis, and will include over $10 million in Cisco equipment. From their materials, HealthPresence combines the Cisco teleconferencing setup, TelePresence, with telehealth devices (see the AMD to create a ‘virtual office’ where the patient and clinician have an interactive visit with a doctor or specialist in high quality video/audio. Picture. What’s not mentioned here is the partnership announced here in October with UnitedHealthCare, but part of the pilot is ‘to demonstrate the value of a scalable, cost-efficient telemedicine network’. CNNMoney article
Very far south of California is Argentina, where another pilot using Cisco TelePresence only is underway, to connect regional health centers with the Garrahan Pediatric Hospital in Buenos Aires. Garrahan Hospital has had remote patient consultation in place for 12 years. According to the article, parents in the pampas no longer have the ‘fear, uncertainty and doubt’ of their local hospital resulting in a long trek to the capital for quality care for their children. Video (7 min., in Spanish, English subtitles) is excellent in demonstrating the system. Cisco ‘The Platform’