Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to deliver health care services and/or education to health professionals at sites which are distant from the host site. VHCF has funded a number of telemedicine initiatives in rural areas including: the operation of a Nurse Practitioner satellite distance learning curriculum; an initiative which links the Eastern Shore's medical providers to the expertise at Eastern Virginia Medical School; and a telehealth program linking the University of Virginia's Health Sciences Center with a variety of medical sites in Southwest Virginia.
A successful telemedicine initiative will extend primary and preventive health care services to Virginia's uninsured and medically uninsured through the use of telemedicine, reduce the isolation of rural health providers via educational and diagnostic links, or both.
