New Mexico's proposed physician-monitored remote areas health program

Abstract

The State of New Mexico is proposing to combine existing technology in biomedical instrumentation, telemetry, data handling, and communications, developed for aerospace applications, with new techniques in public health screening, prevention, and emergency medical treatment, to establish an integrated system of health care for people living in remote areas. The system proposed consists of a physician-monitored central control facility communicating with remote site facilities staffed by paramedical personnel of limited training. Instrumentation at the remote sites, together with simplified laboratory test materials, provides information on patient condition which is transmitted to central data processing equipment and displayed for the center duty physician. The proposed system will provide for: a) remote conduct of multiphasic medical screening and identification of existing health needs, b) emergency medical treatment, and c) limited routine medical care and instruction. A major goal of the program is the development of a systems package as an area utility service which could be obtained for any area using methods similar to those for procuring or establishing hospitals, rural electrification, or telephone utilities.