From the VAC: What Is Telehealth, and What Does It Mean to Vets?

I recently attended a brief by US Department of Veterans Affairs medical staff folks regarding a relatively new service called "Telehealth." What is telehealth, and what does it mean to us as Veterans? Well, it appears to be the newest effort to provide health care services to veterans in rural areas. That's us.

The way it has been described goes like this. The veteran goes to a facility and signs on to a computer system that is dialed in or wired in to the VA medical facility where his or her doctor is located. That system has several medical devices attached to it that will do most of the preliminary work that gets done before we see our doctors. Once all that is done, the doctor logs in, and a regular appointment is conducted over the computers. Cameras on both ends let patient and doctor see and talk to each other...