News International Health Care Leaders Consult Dell Children's Medical Center for 'E-Health' Initiatives

Seton Healthcare Family and Texas E-Health Alliance Host Visitors for Half-day Session

AUSTIN, Texas - (Sept. 6, 2011) - Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, a member of the Seton Healthcare Family, and Texas E-Health Alliance, Inc. (TeHA) hosted a delegation of influential health care officials from the Czech Republic at the hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 6, to showcase technology and innovation within the Seton network.

Dell Children's is one of four stops during the visitors' five-day visit to the Austin area. The visit is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership program and is coordinated through GlobalAustin and TeHA, an Austin-based organization established to bring together industry leaders to promote public policy initiatives supporting the adoption of health information technology (HIT). HIT will have a profound effect on patient outcomes and health care affordability over the next decade.

The five delegates explored the technological advances in "e-health" and "telehealth" within Seton that support hospital administration and improve patient care, and facilitate communication within the health care community.

"Although there is general agreement that e-health can provide opportunities for savings and higher effectiveness in the health care system, there are still a number of obstacles for anyone implementing health information technology," said Nora Belcher, TeHA Executive Director. "We are excited to showcase the innovations being used here in Central Texas and hope that we can serve as an example and a resource for the Czech Republic as they work on their e-health initiatives."

Health care practice supported by electronic processes and communication are known as "e-health" initiatives. Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Seton initiatives discussed included:

• Ongoing telemedicine program for cardiology between Dell Children's Regional Heart Program and UT Southwestern University Medical School
• Launch of international telemedicine program for epilepsy
• Other ongoing telemedicine programs such as wound evaluation and psychiatric evaluations

"We have put in place the pieces to build a comprehensive telemedicine program at Seton that allows for a cooperative exchange of expertise for the benefit of overall patient care," said, Brian Henry, telemedicine program developer at Dell Children's. "The Dell Children's Regional Heart Program's collaboration with UT Southwestern is a premier example of the advantages of telecommunicating."

Telemedicine, the practice of using telecommunications technology to provide clinical services at a geographically separate site, has been used at Seton since 2009. When Seton launched telemedicine programs at Dell Children's and the Seton Brain & Spine Institute, it was the first health care organization in the state to offer a pediatric trauma telemedicine program and the first in Central Texas to use the technology for stroke assessment and treatment.

"We are able to reach out to the communities that we serve, even for those located in very remote regions," Brian Henry explained. "In healthcare, we deal with situations where minutes count. Video telemedicine is a very efficient way to improve care delivery."

In addition to meeting with health care professionals to identify best practices for the implementation of telemedicine initiatives, other objectives of the Czech's visit to Austin consist of: gaining a greater understanding of the U.S. health care system and its administration and learning about government and private industry support for e-health initiatives.