Children, women, seniors and the underserved all face issues with healthcare access that many feel can be addressed by mHealth. With this in mind, the Verizon Foundation has launched an ambitious program aimed at providing mHealth access and services to hundreds of thousands of the nation's neediest residents.
And they're starting with the children.
On July 25, the foundation announced a partnership with the Children's Health Fund to equip 15 mobile health clinics with mHealth technology and deploy them to serve an estimated 15,000 children in Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, New York and Detroit. The first mobile unit was rolled out in Miami.
"Children's Health Fund has been operating mobile medical clinics for 26 years, but these sophisticated technology upgrades from Verizon are helping us to create the next generation of mobile care, with real time connectivity that enables doctors, patients and resources at our hospital affiliates like the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine to communicate like never before," said Jeb Weisman, the CIO of the Children's Health Fund, in a July 25 news release that accompanied a kickoff event in Miami. "The potential for better care is exciting as we work with Verizon to develop this telemedicine capacity here in Miami, and as we collaborate on other innovative programs across the country."
In a recent interview with mHealthNews, Anthony Llompart, the Verizon Foundation's director of healthcare programs, said the project is beginning in Miami with the rollout of a fully equipped mobile health clinic to serve children who might not be able to access healthcare services because of geographical or financial issues. The mobile unit is equipped with 4G LTE broadband connectivity, he said, to ensure that a secure signal is maintained with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, which runs the school telehealth program.
"They needed a reliable connection for a mobile environment," he said.
That problem is pervasive in New York City as well, he said, where five mobile units will be deployed and where reception is often complicated by tight neighborhoods, high-rises and elevated trains.
In other locations like San Francisco and Phoenix, Llompart said, the issue is connecting with transient populations, so the mobile units are focusing on secure text messaging services to help with medication adherence, appointment scheduling and disease education. And in Detroit, the foundation is working to install healthcare kiosks in schools.
The Miami project is the first to go live, and officials there say they're excited to get things going.
"For many families, a long trip to a doctor means a day without work for the parent and puts their paycheck, and potentially their employment, at risk. As a result, medical conditions that could be prevented or cured are left untreated, and the only healthcare many of these children receive is at the emergency room," said Lisa Gwynn, MD, medical director of the pediatric mobile clinic and assistant professor of pediatrics at the Miller School, in the news release.
According to Gwynn, The Children's Health Fund's so-called "doctor's office on wheels" visits schools, community centers and churches in Miami-Dade County as far away as Homestead and serves as "a lifeline for thousands of these children and families that otherwise have little or no access to medical care." Almost 70 percent of the families who use the mobile clinic are of Hispanic/Latino origin, officials said, and 20 percent are of Haitian origin. More than 75 percent have been living in the United States for less than five years, and about 97 percent are uninsured, according to the Children's Health Fund.
"The University of Miami has longstanding expertise in telemedicine, but this is the first time the technology has been made available to South Floridians in a mobile medical clinic setting," said Daniel Armstrong, executive vice chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, in the press release. "This telemedicine system is much more than a video chat. It allows our healthcare providers to not only see and interact with patients via live video, but also to monitor vital signs; perform advanced screenings and tests; and observe their outcomes – all in real time."
Llompart said this is the first part of a national initiative launched by the Verizon Foundation last year to propel innovative healthcare services to underserved communities, with mHealth and telehealth at the front and center. In subsequent projects, he said, the foundation will:
- Work with the Society for Women's Health Research and four universities to distribute tablets with information on diabetes and congestive heart failure and develop at-home biometric services for underserved women;
- Work with National Association of Community Health Centers to develop home monitoring programs that tie seniors who want to live independently with their local health centers and visiting nurse services; and
- Develop a smartphone app for tuberculosis treatment with the University of California-San Diego.
Llompart said he thought that healthcare officials would only be impressed by some of the larger, more complicated mHealth projects, but found that many of them "started to get really excited about just being able to stay connected." In visiting sites in Miami and New York, he said, he encountered doctors and nurses who suddenly found themselves able to deliver care and complete tasks quickly and easily in remote locations, rather than having to return to the hospital or clinic to get the job done.
"You literally are equalizing care," he said.
Llompart said future initiatives might focus on rural care, and acknowledged that "spotty" federal regulations on telehealth and a lack of reimbursements are keeping the industry from realizing its true potential.
He said the Verizon Foundation, which has invested more than half a billion dollars in healthcare, education and energy management initiatives since 2000, can't solve the nation's healthcare issues on its own.
"I think the need is greater than one corporate foundation can fulfill," he said.
But for an estimated 15,000 children in several cities, it's a good start.
