Long Island Groups Tap into Telemedicine

Five Long Island groups will receive about $643,000 of a total $4 million in state funds to implement telemedicine programs as part of the New York State Department of Health’s Telemedicine Demonstration Project.

The groups selected include Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Home Health, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services’ Bureau of Public Health Nursing, Winthrop-University Hospital Home Health Agency, Southshore Home Health Services and Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care & Rehabilitation.

In telemedicine, patients can be monitored from a remote location, usually through an Internet connection. The monitoring provides medical follow-ups that are cheaper and more convenient than visits.

Telemedicine’s ‘patient-centered care’ approach gives patients and their family members, who may not live around the corner, the peace-of-mind in knowing that a healthcare provider is monitoring their health daily, said Anne Calvo, Winthrop-University’s administrator and director of patient services.