Cisco takes Remote Doctors drive in US

US: Cisco Systems and a US insurer UnitedHealth Group have announced a partnership in which UnitedHealth will use a Cisco product called HealthPresence to develop a national program to allow doctors to treat patients remotely. The program will initially focus on providing people in remote and under-served areas with health care. Eventually the program could be expanded throughout the country.

The way it works is that a doctor sits on one side of the telepresence connection, while a medical professional mans the booth or cart on the patient side of the connection. This technician sets up the call and uses the medical equipment to examine the patient as directed by the doctor.

Then the equipment sends data and images gathered during the examination via an Internet connection to the doctor. The doctor can control the camera to zoom into different parts of the body. At the same time, electronic medical records and other data can be viewed by the doctor on a separate computer screen.

While high-definition cameras and screens have made it possible to diagnose many illnesses and injuries, there are still limitations. For example, the experience doesn't allow doctors to actually touch patients, which in some circumstances can help them more accurately diagnose an illness or injury. But for many minor injuries and ailments, telemedicine works very well, experts say.

Typically, these solutions are scaled-down versions of the high-end telepresence systems, but they also include adapters for medical devices that can provide vital sign monitoring, such as blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen saturation and temperature, as well as interfaces for stethoscopes and otoscopes for examining ears.

Using high-definition cameras and monitors, telepresence technology creates a "conferencing" experience that is claimed to be so intimate people think they are in the same room with the people on the other end of the teleconference.

Intel and General Electric are working on a home monitoring system. Google and IBM have also announced an in-home system that transmits data from devices such as blood-pressure cuffs and glucose meters via the Internet. And Cisco and Polycom have retrofitted their corporate telepresence systems to provide near-real-life interaction between patients and doctors, adds the press release.