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An $8.5 million, three-year federal
grant will support a telemedicine program targeting approximately 5,000 of
Medicaid’s sickest patients, such as those with hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS, in
New Mexico and Washington. The goals are to improve patient care by giving
primary providers access to specialists via the Internet, and to drive down the
cost of the government-funded health insurance program for the poor.
Dr. Sanjeev Arora of the University
of New Mexico created the program in 2003 to expand the reach of his hepatitis
C practice. Under Project ECHO, Arora devised a web-based teleconferencing
system that allows primary care clinicians to consult with a team of
specialists from UNM. The program is a “force multiplier” that lets a small
team of specialists recruit local providers in treating difficult diseases, he
said.
Across the country, 1 percent of
Medicaid patients consume 22 percent of the program’s resources. “The whole
nation is struggling with the problem that a small number of patients account
for a huge amount of cost,” Arora said. These patients “tend to have many
hospital stays and [emergency room] visits because they don’t have primary care
support.”
In New Mexico, the program will
identify roughly 2,500 of the state’s sickest patients. About 300 medical
providers at 10 community-based clinics statewide will be trained under the
initiative, Arora said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
