Telemedicine and Telehealth UI Health Care’s 2017–2020 integrated strategic plan calls for expanding the use of technology to improve our service to providers and patients, especially through telemedicine and telehealth. Several programs are already in place. More will be added in the coming years, making medical specialists with UI Health Care available across the state in real time through secure telemedicine connections, including TELEPSYCHIATRY
UI Health Care has launched three new telepsychiatry services in local communities. As part of a grant, UI Hospitals and Clinics will offer geriatric telepsychiatry to 13 skillednursing facilities statewide. The Department of Psychiatry has also launched an Intellectual Disability Program at Hills and Dales Child Care Center and Preschool in Dubuque and telepsychiatry program at Grinnell College, which assists students with medication management. VIRTUAL HOSPITALIST SERVICE
Van Buren County Hospital was the first to partner with UI Hospitals and Clinics on this service launched in July 2017, which allows consultation and collaboration between the local care team and UI Hospitals and Clinics’ Hospitalists via daily virtual rounding and shared patient medical records. The program has allowed local Critical Access Hospitals to enhance patient care and keep patients in their home community. If transfer to UI Hospitals and Clinics becomes necessary, the patient experiences a more seamless transition. The University received a Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
to place telemedicine equipment in medically underserved locations (skilled-nursing facilities, family medicine sites, and Child Health Specialty Clinics) throughout Iowa. The objectives of the grant are to increase access to specialist care through telemedicine and medical education via weekly virtual Grand Rounds. In addition to these services, UI physicians are partnering with providers and patients, using secure video conferencing and other digital technology for maternal fetal medicine virtual visits; neonatal care consults; burn treatment consultations; and remote monitoring for diabetes in pregnancy. For more information about digital health initiatives at UI Health Care, please visit www.thesignalcenter.com.
Education and Development Services that support the continuing medical education, professional development, and practice management of healthcare providers in Iowa are available through the Carver College of Medicine.
The office annually publishes and provides online Iowa Medical Practice Opportunities Directories, which list open positions for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well as physicians specializing in family medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, psychiatry, and hospital medicine. The goal of these directories is to make all resident physicians in the state aware of opportunities to remain in Iowa for their practice as well as to provide a resource for physicians out of state interested in relocating to Iowa. From standard methods to new ventures, UI Health Care is committed to improving the services we provide Iowa’s referring providers, support of care for patients in Iowa and beyond, and providers themselves. For more information, to discuss additional ideas, or offer suggestions, please contact The Office of Physician Relations at (319) 384-6103 or physician-relations@uiowa.edu.
The Office of Continuing Medical Education assists providers in meeting their continuing medical education requirements by offering more than 100 directly and jointly sponsored programs annually. Online access to the courses, CME transcripts, certificates, a calendar of events, and other features are now available through a new learning management system called CloudCME. The Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs offers many services that assist Iowa’s healthcare providers, group practices, hospitals, and communities, including Physician recruitment Practice coverage Data describing the existing healthcare workforce and trends in Iowa Confidential consultation for physicians seeking Iowa medical practice opportunities
PHOTOS COURTESY UI HEALTH CARE
exploring the potential for a secure, face-to-face video consultation application for smartphones. More information on these applications will be made available closer to their implementation.
Iowa Medicine Fall 2017
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