The Linhart Public Relations agency in Denver announced Rio Grande Hospital’s selection for the telehealth program last week.

Other telehealth sites include facilities in Buena Vista, Lamar and Leadville.

The initiative will connect patients in rural areas of Colorado with medical specialists located hundreds of miles away, using advanced audio and video technologies and health resources to create an experience remarkably similar to an in-person doctor visit.

The sites, which will launch in early 2010, will make available more than 3,500 specialist visits per year in these communities. Access to the Connected Care sites, offered at Rio Grande Hospital and other locations, will be open to everyone.

“We’re very excited to be part of this program,” said Arlene Harms, chief executive officer in charge of Rio Grande Hospital and Clinics. “People won’t have to drive to Denver or Colorado Springs for care. We’re bringing the latest in technology to them right in the comfort of their hometown.”

Harms added that United Healthcare and Centura Health will provide the equipment and will send a representative to help health care workers do the bridging for the telehealth conferences. The telehealth sites are a pilot study in eight different states nationwide to help provide better rural healthcare on a national scale, she said.

United Healthcare, a leading health and well-being company, is launching the program with Centura Health, the state’s largest hospital system. Support is also being provided by the Colorado Rural Health Center, the Colorado Community Health Network and the Colorado Hospital Association.

Telehealth equipment features the same video conferencing equipment that astronauts use, including a digital dermascope that allows a remote doctor to view and measure moles; a high-definition camera for throat and nose examinations and a digital stethoscope that allows a remote doctor to hear the patient’s heart beat.

According to a United Health press release Oct. 13, Colorado is among the first locations in the nation where United Healthcare will introduce Connected Care.  To select the sites and implement the program, United Healthcare has partnered with the State of Colorado and Centura Health, with assistance from the Colorado Rural Health Center and the Colorado Community Health Network.  Connected Care helps Centura Health fulfill its goal of bringing critical health care support to every corner of Colorado.