Blue Mountain Health System and Lehigh Valley Health Network
announce telemedicine partnership
LEHIGHTON-The Blue Mountain Health System (BMHS) and Lehigh Valley Health
Network (LVHN) today announced a partnership to provide telemedicine services
that will expand the availability of infectious disease medicine for the
residents of Carbon County and the surrounding areas.
The partnership will link the infectious disease specialists of the Lehigh
Valley Health Network with the Gnaden Huetten and Palmerton Hospital campuses
of the Blue Mountain Health System. Patients and physicians will have
telemedicine access to the LVHN infectious disease team for consults. The use
of a patient exam camera, electronic stethoscope and high definition
audio/video connections, mixed with other health information technologies make
this service a first in Northeast Pa.
In 2009 when we announced our affiliation with LVHN, we stated that we
wanted to enhance the quality of care for our patients by increasing access to
physician specialists through telemedicine. It is now a reality. The residents
of this area no longer have to travel to have a consult from a specialist,
says Andrew E. Harris, president and chief executive officer of the Blue
Mountain Health System. We are so proud to be collaborating with some of the
finest infectious disease physicians at LVHN. And, this is only the
beginning.
Our health network has worked with Blue Mountain to provide advanced care for
heart attack, stroke and burn patients here in Carbon County, said Ronald W.
Swinfard, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Lehigh Valley Health
Network. Today, we are excited to talk about a new affiliation that will
help patients who have contracted infectious diseases, such as influenza,
malaria, measles, West Nile virus, Lyme disease and the list goes on. We have
the expertise to diagnose and treat those diseases, and we’ll be using
telemedicine to make that expertise available here at Blue Mountain Health
System.
Telemedicine care for infectious diseases will use a mobile videoconferencing
cart nicknamed George.
George supports multiple telehealth services. He has a high definition
videoconferencing system, a 19 high-definition monitor and uninterruptible
power supply. He can operate on a wired or wireless network. For the provision
of infectious disease consultations, George is equipped with an electronic
stethoscope, a document camera and an auxiliary patient exam camera. This
provides the tools necessary for the infectious disease specialist at LVHN to
properly examine the patient and make treatment recommendations to the
patient’s attending physician at BMHS.
Theresa Long, vice president of nursing for the BMHS states, There has been a
core team of our nursing and information technology staff that coordinated the
program with the telehealth and infectious disease teams at LVHN for
approximately two months. Several practice sessions with the George system
were arranged to ensure the process was flawless from both sides of the
consult. It really is amazing and the possibilities for future specialty
consults are wide open.
The Blue Mountain Health System and the Lehigh Valley Health Network have been
affiliated since February 2009 and have successfully collaborated in advanced
cardiac and stroke care with the MI Alert for Heart Attacks program and the
TeleBurn for severe burn injuries.
The Blue Mountain Health System consists of the Gnaden Huetten Memorial
Hospital, a 101-bed community hospital in Lehighton, Pa.; the Palmerton
Hospital, a 70-bed community hospital located in Palmerton, Pa.; and The
Summit, a 91-bed nursing and rehabilitation center. The hospitals of the Blue
Mountain Health System are regional providers of health care services to the
people living in Carbon County and parts of Monroe, Lehigh, Northampton and
Schuylkill counties. The hospitals have received numerous accolades for their
commitment to providing high quality healthcare. Combined, these facilities
have been serving the region for more than 100 years.
Lehigh Valley Health Network includes three hospital facilities – two in
Allentown and one in Bethlehem, Pa.; ten health centers caring for communities
in four counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices
throughout the region; pharmacy, imaging and lab services; and preferred
provider services through Valley Preferred. Specialty care includes trauma
care at the region’s busiest, most-experienced trauma center treating adults
and children, burn care at the regional Burn Center, kidney and pancreas
transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer, and neurology and complex
neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Primary Stroke
Center. Lehigh Valley Health Network has been recognized
http://www.lvh.org/awards by US News & World Report for 15 consecutive years
as one of America’s Best Hospitals; is a national Magnet hospital for
excellence in nursing; and has been honored nine straight years among the top
integrated health networks in the U.S. Lehigh Valley Hospital has been
selected as a National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program.
Additional information is available at lvhn.org and by
Follow us on facebook.com/LVHealthNetwork and twitter.com/LVHNnews.
Brian Downs
Director of Media Relations
Lehigh Valley Health Network
NEW PHONE: 484-884-0825; Fax: 484-884-0826
lvhn.org/media
