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UTMB’s Services
Today
Indigent Care Services
Corporate Programs
Special Populations
Correctional Managed Care Services
Harsh Environment Services
UTMB’s
Approach to Technology-Supported Medicine
A Common
Technology Platform
Use of
Electronic Medical Records
Digital
Medical Services®
and the Virtual Physician Office
Training
for Technology Competency in the Clinical Work Environment
Informatics,
Outcomes Research, and Evidence-based Clinical and Administrative Management
Collaboration Opportunities
Contact Information
Mickey Bourdeau
Executive Director, UTMB Electronic
Health Network
Electronic Health
Network
University of Texas Medical Branch
5.518 Levin Hall
301 University Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77555-1042
Phone: 409-747-5290
Fax: 409-747-6299
mjbourde@utmb.edu
Home Page
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UTMB’s Services Today
With humble beginnings providing limited services into
prison populations, UTMB has grown and developed into the world leader in
using technology to provide remote medical services. The mix of UTMB programs
span not only the globe, but all aspects of medical care services.
The primary care telemedicine clinics were established to
enhance healthcare delivery to indigent populations of several counties in Texas. Two
telemedicine clinics are currently in operation, one in Brazoria
County and another in Liberty County. Patients are able to obtain
regular health care from a UTMB primary care provider without having to leave
their local communities, thus ensuring continuity of care and follow-through
with treatment. The program saves counties money by eliminating travel costs
to see providers for routine care, and reduces the number of unnecessary
emergency room visits by use of a nursing care coordinator to triage
patients' concerns after the telemedicine visit.
UTMB operates several telemedicine-based corporate health
care programs for local companies, allowing employees to “see” their primary
care physician without leaving their place of work. For the patient, this
saves much lost time out of the office or off the work site, increasing
convenience. For the employer, this means less lost time and increased
productivity. Settings range from corporate office environments to
construction site clinics.
UTMB has telemedicine contracts with five Texas school districts
and a project linking geriatric specialists with four rural community clinics
and a county hospital. The academic health center has expanded its program to
the Regional Maternal and Child Health Program (RMCHP), which serves
approximately 86,000 children and pregnant women each year throughout East
and Southeast Texas. A UTMB psychiatrist is
using telemedicine technology to counsel domestic abuse survivors and works
in collaboration with Stephen F. Austin State University
clinic, the local RMCHP clinic and the women’s crisis center, all located in Nacogdoches, Texas.
In addition, patients with epileptic seizures benefit from consultations with
UTMB specialists through a link to Lamar
University in Beaumont, Texas.
In September of 1994, the University
of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston formed a
partnership with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide managed
healthcare for inmates. Today, UTMB Correctional Managed Care provides
medical, dental, and mental health services to 80 percent of the state's
inmate population. The organization successfully oversees a multimillion
dollar budget, implements managed care business principles, closely monitors
quality, and incorporates all the benefits of a university-based clinical
association. With 4 million documented patient encounters per year, UTMB
Correctional Managed Care is known for its innovative programs and creative
solutions in the field of correctional health care in jails, state prisons,
reception centers, boot camps, work camps, substance abuse centers,
psychiatric centers, juvenile detention centers and federal prisons. All of
the health services departments are outpatient, medical-surgical centers that
provide primary care for all inmates at each unit. UTMB Correctional Managed
Care also manages our own correctional pharmacy, which process in excess of
13,000 prescriptions per day. Digital Medical Services® (DMS) is
the largest component of UTMB’s telemedicine environment, and is the largest
telemedicine system in the world serving 150,000 patients in 120
facilities. DMS was created in 1999,
with a primary goal of connecting all correctional units receiving medical services
from UTMB's Correctional Managed Care program to a secure data/video network.
In addition to supporting video consultations, the network created a seamless
solution to enterprise-wide medical information sharing. The integrated
system includes an electronic medical record (EMR) and provider laboratory
and x-ray ordering, integrated provider prescription writing, and a pharmacy
filling and delivery system. The network is centered on a telemedicine call
center, comprising provider studios equipped with electronic medical records
software, teleconferencing, and medical peripherals. To date, physicians at
UTMB have conducted more than 145,000 interactive telemedicine consultations
involving inmates housed within the vast prison system of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice. Analyses conducted by several state agencies
indicate that telemedicine improves the quality and accessibility of
correctional healthcare in Texas
while controlling the costs of that care. DMS is the hallmark of UTMB’s
integrated telemedicine programs.
In 2002, UTMB was granted the contract to provide
specialty medical services via telemedicine to the approximately 3,500
National Science Foundation (NSF) researchers and support personnel who
rotate through Antarctica in a given year.
The contract was awarded by Raytheon Polar Services Co. (RPS), of Centennial,
Colo., the logistical support contractor for
the NSF in Antarctica. Through the U.S.
Antarctic Program, established in 1956, the NSF maintains three year-round
scientific stations in Antarctica: Palmer,
McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole stations, and two ice-strengthened
research vessels. The pristine environment makes the area ideal for research
in a variety of disciplines, but the brutal temperatures and prevailing
darkness make evacuation of sick or injured personnel often dangerous at best
and impossible during much of the year. Although stations are staffed by a
physician with emergency medicine experience, as well as a physician’s
assistant, medical resources for on-site specialty care are limited.
Specialty services such as orthopaedics, neurology, ophthalmology,
dermatology, urology, neurosurgery, oral surgery and vascular surgery are
provided. Because of UTMB’s international reputation in telemedicine, the
company contacted experts at the university for assistance in installing new
video and audio equipment. UTMB subsequently provided RPS with some of the
equipment that was crucial for the a remote surgery, in which stateside
physicians assisted a South Pole physician in repairing a worker’s knee
tendon damaged in a fall.
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