Granite Staters Speak Out on Health

I would like to inform the citizens of New Hampshire about an initiative in the State to form a statewide coordinated telehealth network. Telehealth is defined as the transfer of electronic medical data from one location to another. It allows for clinical care where the patient and clinician are in different locations. The purpose of this program is to improve access to health, mental health, education, and social services using cost-effective technologies. Using telehealth technologies offers great promise to improve access to care, particulary for NH's most vulnerable populations. As an example, using tele-home monitoring units, a patient who is elderly or suffering from one or more chronic diseases can be in touch with a home care agency each day, transmitting to a nurse at a home care agency such parameters as blood pressure, weight, pulse, blood sugar level using regular phone lines. This reduces the isolation of the patient and increases the patient's role in participating in his/her health care. It also alerts the clinician to changes in the patient's status and has the potential to reduce/eliminate hospitalization or trips to the emergency department. For more information about the New Hampshire Telehealth Program, visit the program's website at http://nhtelehealth.org.