Is telemedicine about to become a reality?

As we all know, there is an ongoing debate and battle over health care and the recently passed health-care bill.

The issue of health care and the new bill continues to be ever present and apparent in the national media and the political arena as well.

Now, there is a new anomaly that is working its way into the health-care debate and if it should become a reality, could add a whole new dimension to the debate and how health-care services will be delivered to the consumer and the costs associated with health insurance providers.

The new anomaly to which I am referring is "telemedicine" and many experts in the field of health care are expressing their feelings that telemedicine's time has come.

Over the last 10 years, technology companies have been expressing an exaggerated interest in the potential implementation of virtual technology that would permit physicians to remotely examine and monitor patients without having to actually be onsite or have the patient come into the office.

It should be clearly understood that the technology used to provide telemedicine is very expensive and, as a result of the cost, from a business perspective, makes it difficult to really take seriously.

However, all of this is about to change as recent developments regarding the health-care system and the governmental feeling that it is broken have sparked a newfound desire to find various means and ways to fix the system.

Thus, the Washington, D.C., power brokers and lawmakers are now revisiting the aspect of technologies like high-definition video conferencing and telepresence.

One of the major players in the direction of this new health-care technology is Cisco, which has developed a system called HealthPresence, which has the ability to allow a physician to examine and treat a patient remotely using the physician's system in the process.

This new system has come about as a result of the partnership that has taken place between technology superstar Cisco and the health insurer UnitedHealth Group.

As a result of the partnership, the two entities, using the new technology called HealthPresence, will direct its focus on providing remote care to people who live in remote and under-served areas of the country and eventually the world as well as.

Even though, the cost of this new technology is a big concern as is seen in the $300,000 price tag on the Cisco system, there is also the expense associated with the fact that these systems require the use of high-definition audio and video equipment and need a significant amount of bandwidth to function properly as the entire process is one that will be transmitted over the internet.

Yet, when you look at the fact that Washington lawmakers and the health-care industry, do all agree that if something is not done to stem the rising cost of health care, the ever increasing costs could very well cripple the nation, it is obvious why they are seeking and willing to consider nontraditional solutions like telemedicine.

We will take a look at some of the concerns regarding deployment of the new technology and the overall concern of patient privacy as it relates to this new frontier next week.

- Andino Ward