IT‑IS Networking
Projects › Local government — health and corrections

Telemedicine Programme with Hospital Partners

Remote clinical encounters with live ultrasound and X-ray, for indigent residents and the incarcerated population.

Two populations the city had a duty to and limited means to reach: indigent residents for whom travel to a clinician was itself the barrier, and the incarcerated population in the Sheriff’s Office corrections system.

Multiple video systems integrated with diagnostic imaging modalities including ultrasound and X-ray, so a remote clinician could conduct the encounter and read live imaging in the same session rather than working from a description. The physician has to trust what they are seeing well enough to make a care decision on it, which sets the bar for fidelity, latency and synchronisation far above an ordinary video call.

The corrections use case was designed around staff safety as well as access: examining injuries remotely protects the physician and attending staff and removes a transport movement that carries its own risk. Inmate medical records sit at the intersection of HIPAA and CJIS with different rules on the same record, which made the compliance boundary as much of the architecture as the video path.

Outcome

A sustained programme rather than a demonstration — the harder thing to do in government.