A patient living in rural Colorado has concerns about a suspicious looking mole on his arm. Instead of driving to a dermatologist in Denver, he pops into a nearby clinic where a nurse connects to the specialist’s office via wireless network.

Using a high-definition camera, the specialist visually examines the patient, and they discuss the mole in real time.

This is telemedicine. It can save patients time, bring specialized care to rural communities, and help some avoid hospitalization.

Ted Palen, MD, PhD, MSPH, an internist and clinical investigator with Kaiser Permanente Colorado, believes telemedicine technology is an exciting and viable solution for issues such as physician and specialist shortages and discrepancies in access to care.

“We can bring health care to people who normally don’t have access to it,” he says. “Maybe they don’t have a personal doctor or access to a specialist. By using telemedicine, we can bring the specialist to them.”

Enhancing patient care
Beyond providing better access to care, telemedicine can reduce travel costs for patients, as well as time away from work. It can also help prevent chronic medical conditions from getting out of control.

“We can intervene earlier and work on prevention rather than treating acute care problems after the fact,” Dr. Palen says. “This lowers the cost of delivering care because it’s more costly trying to resolve a problem after it has developed rather than preventing it in the first place.”

These benefits may soon be realized by patients in Southern Colorado – as Kaiser Permanente Colorado explores its first telemedicine test pilot.

Expanding the network
Patients will likely see telemedicine become more widespread in the near future.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 called for the Federal Communications Commission to deliver a national broadband plan . One of the top priorities in the commission’s plan is using high-speed broadband networks to increase health data exchange and telemedicine.

Demand for personalized medical services like telemedicine is also expected to grow.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers 2009 report The Science of Personalized Medicine , the personalized medical care portion of the market could grow to more than $100 billion by 2015 as telemedicine is used more widely.

“We are using these technologies in ways that have not been utilized before,” Dr. Palen asserts. “This is an exciting new frontier.”

Click here to read more about Dr. Palen’s research on telemedicine or electronic health tools, or visit kp.org.

Dr. Palen received his medical degree, PhD, and Master of Science in Public Health. He completed his residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.