Following up on last week’s post about telemental healthcare, if you’re looking for an elected official to champion videoconferencing, look no further than the Badger State. Earlier today, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced nearly $1 million in grants from his state’s Universal Service Fund (USF) Telemedicine program for several non-profit health organizations around the state.

“These organizations deliver vital services to their communities – meeting real medical needs and making real impacts,” Governor Doyle said. “I am pleased that we are able to award these grants that advance and improve health care in our state. The USF program continues to provide extraordinary value and assistance to all of the state’s telecommunications customers.”

Wisconsin’s Telemedicine Program is part of the Universal Service Fund, which awards grants annually to non-profit medical clinics and public health agencies. The grants help clinics purchase telecommunications equipment to promote advanced medical services and enhance access to medical care in underserved areas.

The telecommunications technology the grants help fund improves communication between patients and healthcare staff and communication between medical experts throughout the state. The Telemedicine Grant Program has awarded more than $3.1 million to Wisconsin non-profit healthcare providers since the program began in 2006.

The following non-profit organizations are some of the ones awarded Wisconsin USF grants:

• Aspirus Wausau Hospital, in Wausau, received $46,420 to purchase four telehealth units to enable patients to have access to specialty care, to provide telehealth training and education and to enable distance education for professionals.

• Barron Memorial Medical Center, in Barron, received $39,432 to purchase two telehealth units to enable the emergency room in Barron to connect to Luther Hospital in Eau Claire.

• Bellin Home Health, in Green Bay, received $75,000 to purchase telemedicine monitors and peripherals to upgrade the services to wireless web-based monitors to provide home-based health monitoring.

• Burnett Co. Dept. of Health and Human Services, in Siren, received $28,702 to purchase four videoconferencing units to provide expanded psychiatric services to four local county health agencies (Burnett, Trempealeau, Jackson and Pepin Counties)

• Community Memorial Hospital, in Oconto Falls, received $25,000 to purchase videoconferencing systems to enable remote pharmaceutical dispensing at primary care clinic locations in Oconto County.

• Human Service Center, in Rhinelander, received $10,000 to purchase videoconferencing equipment to provide expanded psychiatric services in Forest, Oneida and Vilas Counties.

• North Central Health Care, in Wausau, received $36,512 to purchase five videoconferencing units to provide expanded psychiatric services available in Wausau and Madison to rural clinics (Merrill, Tomahawk and Antigo).

• Rock Co. Human Service Dept., in Janesville, received $10,298 to purchase two videoconferencing units to provide expanded psychiatric services to the Beloit clinic.

• Shawano Co. Dept. of Community Programs, in Shawano, received $10,102 to purchase a videoconferencing unit to provide expanded psychiatric services to the Shawano Mental Health Clinic by having access to psychiatrists in other locations.

• Winnebago Co. Human Services, in Oshkosh, received $30,000 to purchase four video conferencing equipment systems for the main clinic, outpatient clinics and the Neenah branch office to increase access to child psychiatrists and additional services for adult clients.

Go Badgers!

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Nearly 500 Chicago-area veterans are visiting their mental-health professionals using telemental health services at their local VA clinics. About 24,000 U.S. veterans sought telemental health care in 2007, and the trend is on the rise.

Here’s more from Chicago Tribune reporter Jo Napolitano:

Veterans use real-time video to access doctors
One-on-one videoconferencing is becoming a tool for mental health care

By Jo Napolitano | Tribune reporter
10:18 PM CDT, June 9, 2008

Managing her bipolar disorder is difficult enough for Navy veteran Elizabeth Trznadel without the added burden of an hourlong drive every time she needs to see her doctor.

So instead of traveling from her Oak Forest home to Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital in Maywood, Trznadel visits a site in Manteno where she can consult with her doctor one-on-one through special video technology. She said she enjoys the quieter drive through less congested roads.

“You can express yourself just as freely as if he was sitting right in the room with you,” she said. “It’s super helpful. There is not the long wait to see the doctor, so that keeps you from getting stressed out.”

Some 495 Chicago-area veterans use “telemental health services” at six VA community-based outpatient clinics in Elgin, Joliet, LaSalle, Manteno, Aurora and Oak Lawn.

It allows patients access to help for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts without a prolonged car trip, which for some can trigger painful memories of hazardous roadsides in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as the technology becomes cheaper and more user-friendly, more veterans are taking advantage of it, officials say.

Last year, 24,000 veterans sought telemental health care throughout the U.S. Projections for 2008 show that 36,000 to 40,000 people will seek such treatment by year’s end.

“Many researchers have done studies on telemental health, and it stands up reliably to face-to-face service,” said Adam Darkins, chief consultant for care coordination for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

For more, read “Veterans use real-time video to access doctors.”

Mental health administrators often cite scarce resources and location as major contributors to why more people aren’t treated more often. Now, with affordable and reliable high definition solutions like those offered by Face to Face Live, videoconferencing offers more than just the possibility of improved services to patients with limited access to care.

Popularity: 30% [?]