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Office of Telemedicine
Fran Cadez, JD, MBA
211 West 19th Street, Suite 120
Cheyenne WY 82001
wdh.state.wy.us/telemed
www.wyomingtelehealth.org
Ph: 307-638-4515
Fax: 307-638-4612
E-mail: fcadez@state.wy.us
Network Partners: Center
for Rural Health Research and Education, University
of Wyoming, Laramie WY, Institute for Rural
Health, Idaho State University, Pocatello ID,
Veterans Administration, Wyoming, and other
community partners and locations to be determined
Project Purpose: The Wyoming
Network for Telehealth (WyNETTE) will improve
access to and quality of Wyoming’s health
care through the application of technology.
The project will take a three-pronged approach:
(a) increasing care opportunities through telemedicine;
(b) increasing the number, types, and skills
of health professionals through distance delivery
of health care education; and (c) increasing
access to information that will support direct
care and the administration of care through
informatics. The project aims to improve
the climate for the integration of health care
and technology through pilot projects and demonstration
grants.
Outcomes Expected: WyNETTE
will increase the use of telemedicine, distance
education, and informatics among health-care
practitioners in Wyoming. Data on these items,
as well as evaluation of the access to services
and quality of
care, will be gathered through on-site interviews
with community partners to be added as the project
progresses, collection of data on variables
to be determined by an advisory committee, and
project-wide planning/implementation/evaluation
data collected automatically through the point
of service. Three representative sites will
be selected for monitoring of patient health
status and quality of care through implicit
and explicit review of processes and outcomes.
Service Area: The entire
State of Wyoming (23 counties) will be served
by this project. Eighteen of these counties
are designated as single county HPSAs or contain
service areas designated as HPSAs. Three additional
counties contain designated MUAs as well. All
23 counties are designated as mental health
PSAs. Pilot projects will be selected to represent
a variety of geographic and demographic locations.
Services Provided: A Web
portal provides access for all hospitals and
clinics in the state to on-line medical library
resources; real time primary care follow-up;
telepsychiatry; home health monitoring. Anticipated
services include
videoconferencing for continuing education,
store and forward applications, and legal and
policy resources and information.
Equipment: Current Equipment
includes multiple Polycom Viewstation videoconferencing
systems, 1 Tandberg Intern telemedicine unit,
and 1 Dell Web server.
Transmission: Current transmission
methods used include Internet and telephone
(land-line) service. This project is not providing
transmission services, which are the responsibility
of the partner sites.
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