TeleHealth Technology
The Tennessee Primary Care Association (TPCA) has partnered with Community Health Network (CHN) to coordinate distance learning opportunities for the participating sites within the CHN TeleHealth Network. The CHN TeleHealth program currently has a dual focus: providing access to specialty care services and providing access to educational opportunities for providers and staff. TPCA is working with CHN to improve access in the area of continuing education, concentrating on both administrative and clinical areas of learning.
Access to quality educational opportunities by providers and staff in a community or rural health center are often limited due to many factors including geography, limited provider availability, etc. The goal of the distance learning component of the program is to break down these barriers by creating an opportunity for staff to stay in their clinics and participate in the same level of interaction that is offered in a more traditional (face-to-face) training setting via the TeleHealth network.
Currently, there are more than 50 sites throughout the state of Tennessee where TeleHealth equipment has been installed on the CHN network. The next year should see that number grow significantly, thereby increasing the access to both specialty care services for the center’s patients and learning/educational opportunities for both administrative and clinical staff members.
For more information about this program, please visit the Community Health Network's website:
Additional information about Telehealth can be found on the HRSA website.
Learn About the TelePharmacy Technology
Through the use of state-of-the-art telecommunications technology, pharmacists are able to provide pharmaceutical care to patients at a distance. Telepharmacy expands access to quality health care to communities nationwide, primarily in rural, medically-underserved areas. Read more about Telepharmacy on the North Dakota State University website.
In the spring of 2008, the Tennessee Primary Care Association proposed legislation to allow TelePharmacy practice in Tennessee. Cherokee Health Systems in east Tennessee produced an excellent video illustrating exactly how TelePharmacy would work on the Cherokee Health Systems website.
The proposed legislation for a pilot program at Cherokee Health Systems was passed by the Tennessee State Legislature, so the Association and Cherokee are working with the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy to provide TelePharmacy at two remote locations. This pilot is providing the opportunity to demonstrate the viability of this innovative way of pharmacy practice, providing care to patients who likely would not receive these medicines without the efficiency of TelePharmacy.
In addition to what is happening within Tennessee, Telepharmacy is helping patients nationally as well.
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