Long-distance diagnosis

As the only hospital in the state specializing in medical genetics testing and counseling, Shodair Children’s Hospital is used to sending its staff on lengthy trips around the state to visit people who need evaluations, counseling or other genetics-related services.

Some new equipment, though, will allow Shodair’s professionals to visit more patients – and their primary care providers – without leaving Helena and without the patients having to travel here.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – IR Business Editor

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/03/14/business/e01031404_01.txt

Thanks to a $39,600 grant from a Florida foundation (see accompanying story), Shodair’s counselors can now engage in "telemedicine," visiting patients by video conference. No longer does a cancer patient in Malta with an oncologist in Great Falls need to travel to Helena to see a genetic counselor. Instead, all three can video conference from home.

"This enables us to see patients around the state in a much more timely manner," said Ellen Livers, Shodair’s director of management services. "Most of the patients we see are not from Helena."

Shodair’s genetics counselors staff some 70 clinics annually around the state, and will continue to do so even with the new equipment. But even monthly clinics in Missoula, for example, often aren’t enough to meet demand.

"In Billings now we’re scheduled two months out for our clinics," Livers said. "If you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, two months is too long to wait."

Even patients who are seen at the regular clinics can now learn the results of their tests and choose a course of action much faster thanks to the new system.

"Instead of making them wait another four weeks to see the results, we are able to share those with the patient much faster," said genetic counselor Cindy Hudson.

Genetic counselor Katherine Berry said the equipment expidites the treatment and counseling processes, allowing several caregivers to be involved at once in a patient’s care.

"In the first conference we did, we were able to pull several staff members into a conference with a family in another town in Montana, along with their physician and care providers," she said.

Counselors often meet with couples who are either having a baby or are thinking of starting a family.

"If we’re working with someone in Scobey, for example, we might be able to learn ahead of time that there’s an abnormality that might require the baby to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit," said genetic counselor Theresa Boomer. "You don’t want to be delivering that baby at home, and this can help you be prepared to be in the right place when the baby comes.

While the video conference doesn’t completely match a face-to-face visit, medical geneticist John P. Johnson said even seeing patients on the television beats trying to treat them via telephone or e-mail.

"If we can get a look at people, we can often get a good idea of what the diagnosis might be," he said. "For us, a picture is worth more than a thousand words."

Shodair is part of the Montana Healthcare Telecommunications Alliance, a network that can link the hospital with 49 other cities around the state, from Kalispell to Baker and Dillon to Plentywood.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].