Networking technology and health care in Eastern North Carolina.

Eastern North Carolina, roughly the northern half of the region east of Interstate 95, is a largely rural region that is in transition from a family farm-related economy to small manufacturing and retirement communities. Poor education and the typical poverty-related diseases are endemic. It is served by one academic medical center, the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, and a network of hospitals affiliated with the primary referral site, a 740-bed facility in Greenville. Broadband connectivity in the region is virtually absent outside the small urban centers; therefore, network-enhanced health care delivery is a challenge. ECU has maintained a successful and nationally recognized telemedicine center since 1994, averaging between 600 and 700 interactive consults per year, mostly between ECU physicians and institutional patients. Modernization of the center concept has begun with decentralization - placing videoconferencing equipment in our physicians' offices. With the development of a gigabit Ethernet network in the region new opportunities will soon be available to link off-campus physicians' offices to the medical center. Additional challenges await us in the arena of shared patient databases, home health monitoring, etc. Developments in these areas will be discussed.