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

Dr. Glenn Hammack

Assistant Vice President, UTMB and

Executive Director, UTMB Electronic Health Network

Administration Bldg., Suite 4.102

301 University Blvd.

Galveston, Texas 77555-0145

Phone: 409-747-5290

Fax: 409-747-5297

glenn.hammack@utmb.edu

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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.

Indigent 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.

Corporate Programs

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.

Special Populations

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.

Correctional Managed Care Services

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.

Harsh Environment Services

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.