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The Rural Telemedicine Cooperative, Inc. is an
IRS 501(3)C non-profit health care technology organization that
is helping to make
E-Visits, Web-Visits, health care information and services available to almost anyone in need.
You can see the latest news about our organization
here.
Telemedicine, Telehealth, E-Visits, Web-Visits are all terms that are widely used to describe the application of
technologies that allow a health practitioner and a patient to exchange
the information they need to have a consultation electronically.
Our benefactors invented retail E-Visit technology. They
patented it in 1998 and have spent more than a decade advocating
the use of this technology to provide health care and other
services to our rural, elderly and indigent constituency.
In the 1990's the technology was
deemed to be "ahead of its time" with doctors, lawyers,
regulators and insurance companies all being reluctant to take a
leadership role. As the Internet improved in speed and security,
and as health care costs have continued to rise, there has recently
been a complete paradigm shift in favor of online health
care technologies.
Telemedicine
Initiative - The concept was based on the simple
premise that patients should be able to receive quality health
services on-demand. If the patient and and the doctor each had
an Internet connection, enough credible information should be
capable of being transferred between them to establish a
baseline diagnosis. In many cases, health related problems could
be solved almost instantly, on a 24/7 basis, with zero travel
expenses and with almost no overhead.
The Rural Telemedicine Cooperative, Inc. (RTC) was formed
to advocate the use of this and other technologies to solve
rural health issues. Our organization took an exclusive,
extended lease on the patents and began the long process of
educating people on the merits of online health care.
In the last few years, the cost of providing online services has
dropped to the point that it is now possible to have
inexpensive, yet high quality video and wireless vital-signs
collection equipment connected to home computers. Insurers are
also under intense pressure to reduce costs and laws are being
passed to make it easier for doctors to offer their services
online. Accordingly, the insurance companies have now
become the retailers of E-Visits. They market the E-Visit
services to patients along with regular insurance coverage. They
qualify the doctors and collect fees and deductibles for the
E-Visits provided. The system is controlled entirely by the
insurance company via their web pages and servers. Everybody
wins. Finally, quality health care services are only as
far away as the closest Internet connection.
In the coming few years, E-Visits will be to health care what
Online Banking has been to the financial industry. To be
competitive, every bank must now have Online Banking. The same
evolution is now taking place in health care.
To help further our goal of educating our constituents in the
use of online technologies, our Voluntary Licensing Program
was renewed on September 15, 2010. We welcome the support of the academic community, health care
providers, medical doctors,
nurses, insurers and legal professionals as we build a network to
share information and technology.
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