Remote Health Care
Far Flung / Remote Communities are taking advantage of technology to solve their Health Care needs. Communities in Montana are at the fore front of using technology to bring health care to the people who in the past would have to trek/drive long distances to see a specialist. They are getting better health care than the rest of us …
In Montana, the medical community has managed to stay ahead of the curve and become a national leader in telemedicine.
That’s given patients in the far-flung reaches of the state, Northern Wyoming and even western North Dakota better access to care than ever before.
Mental health professionals in Billings can evaluate people in Eastern Montana without either party having to travel.
Local emergency department physicians can consult with specialists in Salt Lake City before deciding how to treat a severely burned patient.
Montana’s handful of infectious disease specialists can diagnose patients just about anywhere in the state and consult with one another about trends and potential outbreaks.
Oncology, cardiology, neurology, radiology, orthopedic surgery, high-risk pregnancy care, stroke care, hospice care, dispensing prescriptions - it all can be done remotely.
“What I love is, I really have seen the health-care system in Montana integrate this technology into the way it does business,” said Thelma McClosky Armstrong, director of the Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network at Billings Clinic and past president of the American Telemedicine Association.
“It’s part of the fabric now. It’s not surprising. People think about using it now.”