EPHC now has 2 state of the art telemedicine carts and is awaiting the arrival of four additional grant funded carts in mid-February. EPHC is a part of the California Telemedicine Network (CTN), which has supplied separate internet lines that insure optimal audio and video for telemedicine patient visits.

Currently, telemedicine services are available in Portola and Indian Valley and include: psychiatry, psychology (both a licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Marriage and Family Counselor) endocrinology, pulmonology, and diabetic education. Rheumatology and nephrology will be added shortly. Further, the hospital’s partnership with UC Davis’s Pediatric Intensivist program will begin January 23, allowing for immediate emergency consulting services for pediatric patients in EPHC’s emergency room.

The hospital also has begun utilizing “hub” services, in which EPHC’s own clinicians provide services via the telemed network to Indian Valley from Portola. So far, Dr. Grier (Family Practice, Internal Medicine), Dr. Collins (Neurology), and Melanie Buckley, PA, (Dermatology) have participated in this new service. Internally, the equipment is utilized for hospital teleconferencing and staff education.

In its first 3 ½ months, 71 patients have utilized these telemedicine services. In patient satisfaction surveys, with a 95% response rate, response to these new telemedicine services have been overwhelmingly positive.

The telemedicine program radically increases the number and types of services that the hospital can offer locally, allowing patients to get the care they need close to home.