Arizona Telemedicine Technology Assessment Program

Telemedicine Test-Beds

The Arizona College of Medicine, the Arizona Legislature, the Arizona Department of Health Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have funded several test-beds that will be used to evaluate telemedicine technologies and services in clinical settings.

The College of Medicine established the in 1993. This has provided static-image telepathology services to several communities in Arizona, Mexico and China and has been used to establish the diagnostic accuracy of a telepathology consultation service.^76,84 The Arizona Telemedicine Network has also served as a test-bed for telemedicine practice models.^75,76 The Arizona Department of Health Services funded a project that provided teleradiology services to Globe, Arizona, 100 miles from Tucson. Teleradiology services to Springerville, 250 miles from Tucson, will begin in 1997 as well as other services. The Arizona Rural Telemedicine Network was funded by the Arizona State Legislature in 1996 to provide a full range of telemedicine services to eight rural communities. One of the initial sites (Yuma, Arizona) will be a facility of the Department of Corrections. The telecommunications infrastructure for this network is currently being implemented. An additional site, Nogales, Arizona, has been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture specifically to evaluate the relative merits of real-time video and store-and-forward technologies for medical specialty consultants.

The Arizona Telemedicine Technology Assessment Program personnel have also actively participated in clinical studies within a telemedicine test-bed of the Department of Veterans Affairs.^80,82,83 Current efforts are aimed at designing and assessing a full-service, telepathology-based laboratory.^77,79,86

Updated: May 3, 2001