However, telemedicine implementations aren’t only changing the face of medicine in doctor’s offices and patient’s living rooms. Video teleconferencing (VTC) solutions are also affecting the delivery of care for larger healthcare organizations, such as hospitals and healthcare systems.

If you’re a hospital in an inner city or multicultural area, there’s a good chance that someone will enter the ER in need of help that doesn’t speak a language that the ER staff is familiar with. In the past, someone would have to try to figure out what medical emergency was afflicting the person or track down an interpreter, whether it was a hospital staff member or a patient’s family member.

However, the presence of VTC solutions in emergency rooms provides a much faster and simpler solution. By delivering a professional interpreter into the ER via video, the patient can explain their symptoms to doctors and receive the care they need faster and more effectively.

Another example of increasing the speed of care via VTC is telestroke programs. When patients are suffering from a stroke, time can literally mean the difference between life and death.

For patients suffering from a stroke caused by blood clots, there are clot-busting medications than can be administered quickly to save the life of the patient. However, not all strokes are caused by clots, some are caused by bleeding, and it can often take a specialist to know the difference. By delivering specialists to the ER via video, the hospital can hasten the delivery of care and save lives.

Delivering more rapid care to patients is just one of the many benefits telemedicine brings to hospitals. The healthcare field is constantly shifting and changing. With new treatments and techniques constantly being identified and put into practice, it’s essential that hospitals keep their medical staff informed of the latest advances.

Telemedicine and VTC are being used today to train doctors, nurses and other medical professionals at hospitals. Telemedicine solutions can deliver live surgeries and demonstrations for hospital staff to view. They can also be used for interactive courses and training sessions. And while these education sessions are conducted, they can be recorded for future use.

Telemedicine solutions are not just for conducting appointments and check-ups. The innovative use of VTC solutions for telemedicine implementations is expediting care, improving quality of care and saving lives.

It’s no surprise that one of the biggest topics of conversation at this year’s show was telemedicine. Telemedicine solutions are fundamentally changing the way doctors deliver care to patients, as well as how health systems and hospitals are operating today.

The excitement over telemedicine inspired me to take a deeper look at these new technologies and the ways they can benefit doctors, patients and large healthcare organizations such as hospitals and healthcare systems.

But first, I should probably describe what telemedicine is. Essentially, telemedicine is the use of today’s advanced unified communications (UC) solutions, such as video teleconferencing (VTC), for delivering healthcare services to patients.

This is extremely useful for doctors, since their practices are ultimately restricted in the geographic area in which they can draw patients and the sheer amount of patients they can see in their office each day. After all, there are only so many examination rooms and only so many hours in a day.

These restrictions are lifted by having appointments with patients via video. Each practice can serve a wider, almost limitless, geographic area since there’s no reason for the doctor or patient to travel. More appointments can also fit into a single day since they are not constrained by the number of exam rooms available and patients won’t be late to appointments due to unforeseen circumstances such as traffic.

This efficiency could ultimately translate into higher profits for the practices. Or, the savings can be passed on to patients, effectively lowering the escalating cost of healthcare.

The doctors and practices aren’t the only ones benefiting from telemedicine. The ability to have appointments with doctors via video not only makes medical care more convenient, it makes it more accessible.

If you’re a patient in a small town or rural area, you may not have access to specialists. The closest oncologist, orthopedist or other specialist could be miles away in the closest city. By enabling these specialists to consult with doctors via video, patients are gaining access to these medical professionals without the need for extensive travel. This is especially useful for patients with chronic conditions who need regular check-ups.

Although the concept of visiting a doctor via video may seem foreign for some, today’s HD VTC solutions provide the quality and reliability of service to make telemedicine a reality. By embracing telemedicine, we can make practices more efficient, decrease healthcare costs for patients and make quality healthcare services more accessible.

In a follow-up post, I’ll discuss how the larger organizations can use telemedicine to their benefit as well. Also, click HERE to view a video about how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is using telemedicine.

You know, the one where you fly to DC for an 8AM meeting but the flight from NYC is delayed and you don’t land until 3AM. Following three hours of sleep and a lackluster meeting you find out that you’re trapped in DC because of a snow storm that would be lovingly referred to as a “dusting” in most of the Midwest.

We’ve all been in a situation like this at least once in our professional careers.

Unfortunately, these delays are often a lot less fun than they appear in episodes of Anthony Bourdain’s “The Layover.” In fact, they can cost a company money and productivity.

Whenever executives or decision makers from small to medium-sized companies are trapped in a city, it keeps them from accomplishing their job. The distance between the executives and their coworkers can hinder collaboration and communication and can otherwise grind companies to a halt.

Even worse, companies sometimes find themselves making expensive, last minute plans to either get that executive home via other means of transportation or put them up comfortably until they can return. With today’s slashed travel budgets and tough economy, these little expenses, such as last minute train tickets or hotel rooms, can add up quickly.

But what if companies could completely eliminate the need for executives to travel altogether?

As we discussed in a previous post, unified communications (UC) technologies, such as video teleconferencing (VTC) solutions, can help companies eliminate the need for executives to travel for meetings, classes and other events by enabling face-to-face communication between individuals regardless of the distance separating them.

Despite VTC solutions drastically reducing the need for executives to travel, some in-person meetings will still need to occur. However, should executives get stuck due to inclement weather or other circumstances, VTC can ensure that they’re never out of the loop.

With new, software-based VTC solutions, any laptop or computer can be turned into a VTC endpoint. This ensures that executives can continue to communicate, collaborate and interact with the company, even if stuck in another state or country.

By embracing VTC solutions within the enterprise, companies can help to eliminate business travel. However, should an executive at a company need to travel to any corner of the globe, VTC solutions can ensure that no business trip becomes too much of a nightmare.

One of the reasons we gave for why VTC is cutting costs for companies from coast to coast is its ability to power telework, which can drive significant savings for an enterprise. However, we didn’t delve too deeply into why VTC solutions are so important for telework initiatives.

The cost savings of telework initiatives are often enough to drive most companies to consider implementing them. However, there is usually some hesitancy among managers and C-level executives when it comes to increasing workplace flexibility and enabling employees to work from anywhere.

Why? Many managers are concerned that their employees are simply not getting the work done when they’re out of sight. Others feel that communication, collaboration and information sharing is seriously hindered when employees aren’t physically together in the office.

VTC solutions offer the perfect way to overcome these issues. Managers concerned about being unable to see and supervise their teleworkers can utilize VTC to have face-to-face meetings and ensure work is getting done. VTC can also help to drive increased communication and collaboration within the organization regardless of where employees are located.

Video teleconferencing is helping companies to overcome their hesitancy and embrace telework. Thanks to new advancements in the video communications industry, it’s no longer expensive or difficult to implement these technologies, which can deliver cost savings, increased collaboration, flexibility and mobility to a company.

For many companies, now’s the time to take a look at their budgets and expenses and determine how they can cut out unnecessary expenditures and ultimately operate more effectively and efficiently. Luckily, a technology exists that is changing the fundamental ways companies do business and subsequently slashing their expenses across the board.

What is this new technology? Surprisingly, it’s video communication.

To do business in today’s global economy, many company owners and C-level executives find themselves spending considerable time on airplanes, jetting across thousands of miles to shake hands and meet with prospects and other influencers. Other companies have multiple branch offices scattered across the globe and require employees to travel between them frequently. Others simply find themselves sending employees to trainings, meetings and other events in far away places.

All of this international and domestic business travel has a cost. Literally. By embracing video communication and enabling executives and employees to hold meetings, attend events and receive training via video, all of these expenses can be eliminated.

But that’s not the only benefit of video communication. It also allows companies to enable their employees to have face-to-face communication from any location. This means that companies with video communication solutions can operate more effectively and not see a drop in communication and collaboration between employees when they are out of the office. This increases the mobility and flexibility of a company’s workforce and allows a company to effectively implement telework initiatives.

Telework initiatives can help companies save even more. Employees working outside of the office don’t require as much office space. This means that a company can scale back on the amount of real estate that they purchase or lease. Distributed workforces also don’t use as many utilities, resources and supplies, which also saves the company money.

The bottom line, video communication can change “business as usual” at a company and help it operate more effectively and efficiently. In today’s difficult economic environment, can any company afford to not take the “video communication” exit on the High Tech Highway?

For the younger generations that have grown up with computers, it’s almost unfathomable to think of what an office environment without computers would have been like. That’s because the introduction of the computer to the workplace drastically changed how people did their jobs and empowered them to work faster and smarter.

Technologies like this are often referred to by those in the industry as “disruptive technologies.”  This may sound negative, but the opposite is true – these technologies create fundamental changes in the ways organizations and enterprises operate and shift things into the next gear. They serve as an exit ramp on the road of routine and show you a faster, previously unattainable shortcut to getting the job done.

Now, new disruptive technologies are emerging and gaining adoption in the workplace. They’re creating a new road, a High Tech Highway, with no discernable speed limit, traffic or toll booths.

What are these new trailblazing technologies? You may have heard of them before. They’re TelePresence, cloud computing, virtualization and information security. These technologies are enabling businesses to get where they’re going faster, safer and with far less cost.

For many companies, the concept of taking the cheaper, safer and faster road sounds appealing, but they just don’t know where the on-ramp is. That’s why we started Iron Bow’s High Tech Highway. This blog is a roadmap for all small, medium-sized and emerging growth businesses that know they could be operating more effectively, efficiently and inexpensively, but just don’t know how to steer themselves onto the path.

On this blog, we’ll be featuring articles authored by Iron Bow’s staff of technology experts, discussing the new disruptive technologies that, together, are creating the new High Tech Highway. These experts will look at the recent trends and advancements in cloud computing, virtualization, video communication and information security, discuss how they can empower your business and the best practices for their adoption and implementation.

However, like all good collaborative references, this roadmap to the High Tech Highway isn’t complete without your feedback. Have a hard time reading the map? Have a suggestion for a good place to stop between “software as a service” and “desktop virtualization?” Drop us a note and let us know.

The road to increased operational efficiency and better business practices sits open before you. Let’s take it together.