MTN Overview (printable overview FY '07)

The Missouri Telehealth Network (MTN) exists to enhance access to care to underserved areas of Missouri, to provide educational opportunities for healthcare providers, to further homeland security efforts related to disaster preparedness and to be available in the event of a disaster and to provide research opportunities to clinicians wanting to study telehealth.

MTN began in 1994 as one of the nation's first public-private partnerships in telehealth. A 9-site network was initially developed with federal support coming from HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy and private support coming from telecommunication companies, as well as each telehealth site. Today, MTN has over 130 sites in 44 Missouri counties. The network is funded with federal, state and institutional dollars. This continues to include institutional support from all MTN sites. For the first time MTN will be added as a new line item to the State of Missouri’s higher education budget for fiscal year 2008.  MTN was awarded $420,000.  These funds will be used for standard operational costs associated with the network.

MTN has provided services in more than 15 different medical specialties, with a majority of the work coming from radiology, mental health, dermatology and cardiology. To date, more than 11,000 interactive video encounters and 57,500 teleradiology exams have been conducted.

Projects

The Northeast Missouri Telehealth Network was established in 2005 to improve access to high quality primary, specialty, and mental health care for the underserved of northeast Missouri. The network is supported, in part, by a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health which was awarded to A.T. Still University (ATSU) in Kirksville. The Northeast Missouri Rural Health Network, the Missouri Telehealth Network, and the Northeast Missouri Area Health Education Center serve as collaborating partners for this project. In the first two years, ten new telehealth sites were connected and equipped. In the third year five new sites will be added. These include: Family Health Center in Marceline, Women's Health Center in Kirksville, Twin Pines Adult Care Center in Kirksville, Lancaster Medical Services in Lancaster and Mark Twain Area Counseling Center in Hannibal. Five pre-existing telehealth sites within the region are also affiliated with the Northeast Missouri Telehealth Network. When the project is complete it will service a 12-county region in northeastern Missouri, including Adair, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Linn, Macon, Marion, Putnam, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, and Sullivan. To learn more about the Northeast Missouri Telehealth Network, contact Celia Hagan at chagan@atsu.edu or visit www.atsu.edu/nemotelehealth.

MTN, the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services and the Missouri Primary Care Association joined forces in a public health and emergency project to digitally link all Missouri hospitals and community health centers together. The network supports delivery of disaster preparedness programs and acts as a mechanism to remotely provide clinical services during disasters. This effort is funded by grants from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA - CFDA 93.003) to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services.  At the completion of this project 19 new hospitals and 16 new community health centers were added to the network. For more information regarding the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services visit www.dhss.mo.gov and for the Missouri Primary Care Association visit www.mo-pca.org.

Network Description

Sites:  The Missouri Telehealth Network uses a semi private network using the Internet Protocol (IP) to deliver two way interactive audio and video for clinical encounters, and data transfer for teleradiology and other store and forward services.

• 11 Mental Health Clinics
• 1 Mental Health Hospital
• 24 Federally Qualified Health Care Centers
• 1 Urgent Care Clinic
• 34 Hospitals
• 1 Home Health Agency
• 2 Rehabilitation Hospitals
• 1 Outpatient Cancer Center
• 1 Army Hospital
• 1 Nursing Home
• 1 State Habilitation Center
• 2 Schools of Medicine
• 1 School of Nursing
• 1 School of Health Related Professions

Telecommunications:  The Missouri Telehealth Network uses T1 (Frame Relay) connections to each site. These connections provide dynamic bandwidth allocation for voice, video and data. MTN sites have the flexibility to call any other MTN site directly in this configuration.

Services:  On average, MTN currently provides the following services per month:

• 200 Interactive Telehealth Encounters
• 1,000 Teleradiology Exams
  

Clinical Specialties:  Adolescent Specialties (eating disorders), Autism Clinic, Burn Clinic, Child Health, Children with Special Needs,  Dermatology, Endocrinology, Genetics Follow-up, Geriatric Consultations, Hip & Knee, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Missouri Occupational Injury Clinic, Orthopaedics, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radiology, Rheumatology, Spine, and Surgical Follow-up.