The VidyoHealth telepresence system for health care providers is designed to enable doctors to communicate more easily and affordably with other doctors and with patients. The Vidyo system uses the Internet, rather than requiring dedicated telehealth networks.
Video collaboration vendor Vidyo aims to make it easier for health care
providers and organizations to use telepresence technology in their day-to-day
work.
Vidyo is rolling out VidyoHealth, a telemedicine video
conferencing product that enables health care providers to user the Internet
and other general-purpose IP networks to communicate with other doctors and
with patients.
The VidyoHealth offering, introduced May 12, removes the need
for a more traditional dedicated telehealth network infrastructure, which will
help reduce costs and expand access to remote facilities and patients. That in
turn will help doctors and patients realize the potential of telehealth,
according to Ofer Shapiro, Vidyo CEO and
co-founder.
"Until now, telehealth solutions from legacy providers
were built on enterprise-centric models requiring expensive, dedicated
[quality-of-service] networks in order to deliver high-quality video and audio,"
Shapiro said in a statement. "This was not practical for medical
practitioners who needed to connect with remotely located patients or
facilities."
The North Region Health Alliance is using the Vidyo offering to
help improve communications between 20 hospitals and a mental health
organization spread across 20,000 square miles in rural Minnesota
and North Dakota. For the Acacia
Mental Health Clinic in Milwaukee,
having the system in place makes it more affordable for clients to get the help
they need, according to officials there.
The VidyoHealth system includes the VidyoDesktop software
for Mac, Windows and Linux, and the VidyoClick optional touch-screen endpoint
for at-home patients.
Other components include VidyoPortal, an x86-based appliance
for Web-based management services, VidyoRouter appliance that offers the
software-based multipoint ports, VidyoRoom systems, and VidyoGateway, an option
that connects VidyoConferencing systems and legacy H.323 or SIP (Session
Initiation Protocol) endpoints.
The VidyoHealth suite is available now starting at $17,000 for
a package that can support up to 26 users.
Other video communication vendors and health care providers
also are looking for ways to improve access to health care through collaboration
technology. For example, Cisco Systems in March introduced its HealthPresence
telepresence product for the medical field.
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