Video Teleconsultation Video-teleconsultation supports  communication between health care professionals

Video Teleconsultation is a form of a-synchronic transmural communication using a secured internet environment. It enables exchange, of video cases on posture and movement disorders and additional patient information, between healthcare professionals. Telefysi (Teleconsultation Physiotherapy) is the first reimbursed application of Video Teleconsultation in rehabilitation medicine in the Netherlands. This service is developed for pediatric physiotherapists within different practices in Twente and Roessingh Rehabilitation Centre and is reimbursed by Menzis, a major regional healthcare insurance company.

Children with complex posture and movement disorders is a group of chronically ill who are structurally dependent on the care of others. Beside family and people in the direct environment of the child, healthcare professionals from many different disciplines and care settings are involved, during treatment and care of these children. This makes good organized healthcare essential. Video Teleconsultation can be a way to meet the needs of good coordination, communication and tuning of (transmural) treatment.

Describing movement disorders is not an easy manner. Movement is something one needs to see, in order to be able to get the picture. Applying video fragments to a consultation case gives each discipline the opportunity to observe movement patterns from its own perspective. Therefore Video Teleconsultation can be a valuable health care service in multidisciplinairy communication.

During a small scale pilot, with twenty two participating peadiatric physiotherapists, the first 25 reimbursed consultations were exchanged. Reasons for consultation were divers, most professionals needed more knowledge about best treatment, but also questions about diagnosis or equipment were asked. Video Teleconsultations considered mainly young children with a variety of diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida or developmental delay.

In the near future the development of this new and innovative healthcare service will be focused on multidisciplinairy videocontact with other disciplines, hospitals and healthcare organizations throughout this region. A major regional hospital in Enschede is already involved in this form of transmural communication. Expanding in the period 2007 through 2009, will take place into other area’s of health care such as behavioral problems or speech and language disorders and should not be limited to pediatric rehabilitation but also being introduced to adult rehabilitation services.

In the beginning of 2007 the system is being used in the region around the Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen. Towards the end of this year it will be introduced in the regions around other rehabilitations centres such as; De Trappenberg in Huizen-Almere, VU Medisch Centrum in Amsterdam and the Stint Maartenskliniek and the Universitait Medisch Centrum St. Radbout in Nijmegen. Roessingh Research and Development will be coordinating this development.

Currently reimbursement of this new teleconsultation service is limited to one major healthcare insurance company and only available for primary care peadiatric physiotherapists. Together with healthcare insurance companies nation-wide financial reimbursement of the multidisciplinairy videocontact will be developed and is expected to be functional in January 2008. This way Video Teleconsultation can become daily practice in health care, not only in organizational but also financial manner. And this may enhance the care for children with postural and movement disorders.

In 2006 the Telefysi-service has won a national ICT award for most remarkable broadband health care application.

For more information: www.telefysi.nl

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