SYRACUSE — Providing health care from a distance is gaining traction in the north country, thanks to a pair of nonprofits that formed a strong bond to ensure cutting-edge telemedicine services are available to patients.
In recognition of their efforts to help build an expansive telemedicine network across the north country, the Development Authority of the North Country and the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization were honored with a Collaboration Award last week during the 2015 Nonprofit Awards ceremony held at the SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College.
The Watertown-based organizations were among four partnerships in Central and Northern New York that received the award during the seventh annual event hosted by M&T Bank. The other partnership from the north country that received an award was River Hospital, Alexandria Bay, and the Antique Boat Museum, Clayton.
James W. Wright, CEO of DANC, said the award recognized the multiyear partnership the organization has had with the FDRHPO to develop the north country’s telemedicine network, which allows hospitals and primary care practices to share information electronically and gives patients access to telemedicine care.
The telemedicine system has been made possible by DANC’s fiber-optic cable in the region, Mr. Wright said.
The FDRHPO’s role has been to help link health care facilities across the region into the network, which has grown steadily since it was formed in 2009.
“We provide the fiber, electronics and technical applications, and the FDRHPO works the health side of it to manage the network,” Mr. Wright said. “It’s truly been a collaboration over a long period of time.”
The growth of the north country’s telemedicine network can be traced to 2009, when a partnership was formed by DANC and the FDRHPO to launch the North Country Telemedicine Project. The project was pioneered by the FDRHPO, which in 2007 was awarded nearly $2 million from the Federal Communications Commission to launch the effort.
The first phase of the project allowed 26 health care facilities across five counties to tap into the network. The scope of the network expanded in 2011 with the formation of the Adirondack Champlain Telemedicine Information Network, which connected 48 health care facilities across an eight-county region in the eastern half of the north country. Today, the two telemedicine networks include more than 100 health care facilities that span from Syracuse to Plattsburgh.
“We have the largest rural telemedicine network in the Northeast,” Mr. Wright said.
Last fall, DANC provided the FDRHPO with $60,000 to implement telemedicine scheduling technology for health care facilities in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties to more effectively plan telemedicine appointments for patients. Corey M. Zeigler, chief information officer for the FDRHPO, said he believes an increasing number of patients will take advantage of telemedicine services in the future.
“We’re growing to the point that we’re seeing a larger patient size coming this summer,” he said. “And we hope to have the software system live this summer.”
In January, the state Legislature approved legislation requiring that telehealth visits be reimbursed by insurance providers at the same rate as in-person visits. The law, which will take effect in 2016, states that deductibles, co-insurance or other conditions for coverage of telemedicine can’t differ from those for in-person visits.
“That’s really going to help this grow,” Mr. Zeigler said. “It was the biggest hindrance to doing telemedicine in New York state.
“And from a patient’s perspective, more will be able to receive care in their hometown without having to drive somewhere,” he said.
