JBSA-FORT SAM HOUSTON –
The U.S. Army Medical Information Technology Center is rapidly becoming the go-to source for the implementation of telehealth, which is the delivery of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.
The U.S. Navy is one of USAMITC's newest customers, with instant messaging hardware and software program named Jabber being installed as part of a pilot program at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, N.C., in the coming year.
This initiative will also give Navy medical care providers the ability to conduct telehealth with their counterparts within the Veteran's Administration and U.S. Army. It will also save on temporary duty travel, as they can discuss medical care and support of Navy patients without the patient having to go to another medical facility.
The reason behind the agreement between Navy Medicine East and USAMITC is the enterprise service and support capabilities USAMITC already has in place through its infrastructure.
While the pilot phase will be conducted at the Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, plans are being made to bring the telehealth/Jabber platform to every naval medical hospital and treatment facility worldwide.
"The demonstrative process is under review at Camp Lejeune and at the Medical Education and Training Campus at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston," said Dwaine Brown, USAMITC video network center branch chief.
This effort between Army and Navy medicine showcases the growing move toward joint efforts in all aspects of military medicine.
With JBSA being the location of the premier medical school for all of the U.S. military and other strategic nation partners, telehealth is the newest in a long line of critical software and hardware modernizations USAMITC has developed for its customers.
"When we provide Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune and METC with Jabber, the Navy will have its foot in the door for telehealth," said Chris Ahrens, VNC technical support lead.
The video network center's Jabber platform is one of the most popular ones the center is currently managing. The VNC handles approximately 530 video calls and 4,250 audio calls for Army, Navy, and VA customers each month.