NCJ Number
173390
Date Published
1998
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape describes a demonstration program in three Pennsylvania correctional facilities to compare telemedicine and conventional health care consultations for inmates.
Abstract
The program was initiated in December 1996 and focused on comparing the costs and benefits of telemedicine versus face-to-face health care. Telemedicine techniques used in the program primarily involved video-conferencing and electronic techniques for transmitting and receiving x-ray and laboratory results. Two basic questions were posed for the demonstration: (1) whether doctors would agree to use the system; and (2) whether telemedicine would work in correctional facilities. Results showed quick acceptance of telemedicine by doctors and prisons. Most telemedicine consultations involved psychiatry, dermatology, and orthopedics specialties. Telemedicine tended to replace conventional consultations more in psychiatry and dermatology than in orthopedics, and telemedicine did not replace conventional consultations in other specialties such as cardiology. A comparison of costs for telemedicine and conventional consultations showed telemedicine was cost-effective in certain cases. Benefits of telemedicine included reduced waiting time, expanded services, and better scheduling. Future uses of telemedicine are being explored by the National Institute of Justice, and consideration is being paid to expanding telemedicine concepts to forensics and pathology.