Videoconferencing networks link rural residents from Alaska to Vermont with teaching-hospital physicians. Home monitors feed information on blood chemistry to clinics via modem, flagging problems before they become emergencies, while software allows radiologists in distant cities to jointly examine a high-resolution CT scan. And those are just the applications available today. The military has Star Trek- esque systems under development, including telesurgery performed by robots. Lt. Col. Ron Poropatich, director of telemedicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, predicts that telemedicine kiosks will spring up like photo booths nationwide.
Several hurdles block widespread use of telemedicine, however.
And technology is the least of them. Doctors must be licensed by each state in which they practice, yet telesurgery knows no borders. There are privacy and fraud issues as well. Patients seem to accept this form of medicine. Patients do not always see Kessler or his partners in the flesh.