The Minnetonka-based health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group plans to spend tens of millions of dollars on a partnership with Cisco Systems. The plan is to build a nationwide telehealth network using Cisco videoconferencing technology. More detail is due to be announced tomorrow, according to this item, which you may like to read anyway.
[Why does everthing I read about Cisco’s videoconferencing in healthcare remind me of the saying that to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail? And, while I’m musing, does expensive technology reflect a belief in the medical profession that everthing they do should also be expensive? Would ‘affordable’ somehow diminish them?]
Patients access video conferencing via 18 wheel trucks?
Whilst i’m a big fan of the environmental and communication benefits of Video Conferencing I found it hard to hold a straight face while reading the following: “The goal is to provide patients in rural and underserved urban areas with real-time, remote doctor appointments. The technology in some cases will reach patients via 18-wheel trucks carrying videoconfering equipment”