ATA predicts 2012 as the most significant year ever for telemedicine growth

The Industry Council Chairman for the American Telemedicine Association is predicting that 2012 will be lauded as the most significant year ever for telemedicine growth. In this current role with the ATA as well as serving as Managing Director of GlobalMed for the past ten years, Joel E. Barthelemy sees several key indicators that signal what he expects to be a massive uptick in the already growing demand for real-time remote delivery systems across the healthcare spectrum.

“Many healthcare organizations, including the VA, are transforming before our very eyes as they embrace proven acquisition and delivery systems that are reducing costs and improving access to their providers”

"We are seeing a clear and dramatic increase in the trend as more and more provider networks acknowledge and invest in the deployment of cost-cutting delivery systems across the US and around the world," said Barthelemy.

GlobalMed experienced strong growth in 2011 that has continued into the first quarter of this year with its successful deployment of more than 1,100 telemedicine systems into the VA health system. Approved by the U.S. government as a suggested provider of mobile telemedicine cart solutions, GlobalMed's hardware and software systems are designed to deliver better care, while reducing patient workflow from 57 separate processes to only three.

Based on initial data from only one of the VA's 23 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, or VISNs, the rollout has already "trimmed approximately $742,000 from its budget during the same period by facilitating 23,580 remote consultations," according to Information Week. "Many healthcare organizations, including the VA, are transforming before our very eyes as they embrace proven acquisition and delivery systems that are reducing costs and improving access to their providers," said Barthelemy.

As a sign of its collaborative efforts and growing interest in the telemedicine space, GlobalMed systems are on display in seven of its partner booths at the HIMSS 2012 Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas this week. "What we have seen as a result of the growth of our partners, and what I've witnessed this week at HIMSS with our industry colleagues, is a massive convergence of technologies that is creating collaborative care opportunities for the patient, from the hospital bed into the home," said Barthelemy.

Source GlobalMed