Travel can be hard for parents, take a health toll on children, and can be costly for the state. Texas should use telemedicine to provide cost-effective care to children with special health care needs. Telemedicine will increase families' satisfaction with medical care and improve customer service in essential services. About 5,300 children received care through this program in 1999. They sometimes need to travel to specialty medical centers or physicians to receive expert care and consultations.
Travel can be hard for parents, take a health toll on the children, and can be costly for the state.
This would minimize travel costs reimbursed by the state and reduce the physical and mental stress to families. This may involve significant planning by the family, taking into consideration the health of the child, obtaining special medical care or transportation during the trip, or making parents take time off from their jobs. There is no doctor, hospital, or clinic in the small community of Hart, Texas. But a pediatrician from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center visits children every Wednesday, and another doctor visits via a telemedicine satellite link on Fridays. The school nurse, Retta Knox, has used her resources to piece together a number of health services for children.