UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., has been awarded a $750,000 grant from HHS to launch a neonatology telehealth program to improve newborn care in rural areas.
The Pediatric Emergency Assistance to Newborns Using Telehealth Program will provide clinicians in rural hospitals with access to UC Davis neurologists and other specialists through videoconferencing technology. The program will be launched in four rural hospitals in medically underserved areas.
"Rural doctors and hospitals deliver great care. But they have limited access to pediatric subspecialists. Without subspecialty guidance, newborn infants may be undertreated, receive inappropriate therapies or face unnecessary transfers. By providing immediate access to neonatologists and other pediatric experts, PEANUT will provide a safety net for rural clinicians and their patients," said Madan Dharmar, Phd, assistant research professor in the UC Davis Children's Hospital Pediatric Telemedicine Program and the project's principal investigator, in a news release.
More Articles on Telehealth:
Google Helpout Pioneer: One Medical Group
Study: Tele-Learning for Rural Physicians Can Improve Care Delivery
Single-Site Study Suggests ICU Telemedicine May Not Shorten Stays, Decrease Risks