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CO-DOC Telemedicine
Education & Information
CO-DOC Telemedicine Fact Sheet
What is the CO-DOC Telemedicine Program?
CO-DOC, the Collaborative Digital Online Consultant, is a collaborative effort between Swedish Medical Center, HealthONE Stroke Care, Colorado Neurological Institute (CNI), and Blue Sky Neurosciences. It is an innovative program that uses proven technology to bring the best of stroke healthcare to communities that need 24/7 acute stroke neurology coverage. Neurologists at Blue Sky Neurosciences can be joined remotely to any hospital by a site-independent, internet-based, HIPAA-compliant telemedicine system which allows them to conduct acute stroke consultations with the distant hospital at any time.
What is the history of the CO-DOC system?
The Colorado Neurological Institute (CNI) is the administrator of CO-DOC. Stroke neurologists at Swedish Medical Center consult with rural hospitals, providing specialty resources and additional care from hundreds of miles away.
- CO-DOC was initially funded by a grant – through the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment’s Cancer, Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Disease (CCPD) program (with funds from Colorado’s Amendment 35 tobacco tax legislation) – in January 2006.
- While the original grant funded five sites, CNI was able to manage to place cameras in six communities free of charge: Springfield, Yuma, Gunnison, Steamboat Springs, Cortez and Trinidad.
- In 2008, through a grant from the Caring for Colorado Foundation, cameras were placed in both Leadville and Rangely hospitals.
- The addition of the five HealthONE sister hospitals in 2011 has greatly increased the volume of telemedicine consults.
- Today, a total of 23 telemedicine systems in 25 locations are linked to the Stroke Center at Swedish Medical Center.
Today, more than 700 stroke telemedicine consultations have taken place via the CO-DOC systems. Over 150 of those patients were deemed appropriate to receive t-PA. This represents a 21% treatment rate, an approximately four-fold increase over the national rate and directly comparable to the rate of t-PA administration for patients coming to the emergency department at Swedish Medical Center (the only four-times certified Joint Commission-Primary Stroke Center in the region).
Why is CO-DOC needed? How does it benefit people in our region?
The goal of this innovative program is to bring the best of stroke healthcare to rural and otherwise remote communities which often can’t sustain specialty care physicians and the resources to provide the most advanced medical treatments.
Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the nation and the number three killer, and it is estimated that 700,000 people in the U.S. experience a stroke each year. Despite these numbers, fewer than 5 percent of stroke patients in Colorado receive the only FDA-approved treatment for ischemic strokes, t-PA. In order to be administered, t-PA must be given within 3 hours of the onset of stroke symptoms.
How does CO-DOC work?
CO-DOC’s instant connection to stroke-trained neurologists at Swedish Medical Center allow patients with stroke symptoms to be examined and diagnosed, even hundreds of miles away, and allows the consulting physicians to guide t-PA administration in our partner sites or during air transport.
This technology was proven to improve care of people experiencing an acute stroke. CO-DOC’s proprietary system involves the installation of a video-enabled examination cart in the Emergency Department of the remote hospital and a wireless laptop and headset combination that resides with an on-call neurologist. CO-DOC delivers smooth video from almost any Internet connection, dramatic zoom capabilities, and near real-time communications with perfect audio and video synchronization and no echo. The patient and physicians both have two-way video and audio for a more accurate and personal experience.
About Swedish Medical Center
Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, serves as the Rocky Mountain Region’s referral center for neurotrauma and comprehensive stroke care. Swedish's Stroke Program is the ONLY Stroke Center in the region to be four-times certified by the Joint Commission. Swedish provides the most advanced care for adult and pediatric trauma as a Level I Trauma Center. An acute care hospital with 368 licensed beds, Swedish Medical Center has been a proud member of the community since 1905.
About HealthONE Stroke Care
The HealthONE Stroke Network specialists connect the region's foremost Stroke Care experts and Primary Stroke Centers with hospitals in Denver and medical facilities across the Colorado, western Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Our Stroke Network provides critical stroke care for patients in more places, faster than any other's. The Rocky Mountain Region's most comprehensive network includes teams of medical experts, telemedicine systems, clinical diagnostic systems, certified transport teams and interventional treatment and rehabilitation services.
About Colorado Neurological Institute
Founded as a non-profit in 1988, Colorado Neurological Institute enhances the delivery of personalized, comprehensive and state-of-the-art care to patients with neurological conditions through coordinated patient care, education, rehabilitation, research and outreach activities. With more than 50 member physicians, CNI is the largest, most comprehensive neuroscience center in the Rocky Mountain region.
About Blue Sky Neurosciences
Blue Sky Neurosciences in Englewood, Colorado was established in January 2005. The physicians of Blue Sky Neurosciences are all university-trained and board certified in neurology. Christopher V. Fanale, MD, who is fellowship-trained in stroke, is one of the partners in Blue Sky Neurosciences and the Medical Director for the CO-DOC Telemedicine program as well as the CNI Stroke Program.
About AirLife
AirLife has been HealthONE’s CAMTS-certified air and ground transport agency since its inception in 1983. AirLife has completed more than 40,000 missions – averaging 2,000 each year – throughout a seven-state region. AirLife is committed to providing the best care for patients, especially when minutes count, with a staff of flight nurses with a minimum of five years of acute/intensive care and emergency nursing experience and a fleet including three bright green-and-blue-colored Bell 407 helicopters, a Lear jet and a Critical Care Ground Transport Unit (CCT) and the nation’s first Dedicated Stroke Transport Team.
For additional information about the CO-DOC Telemedicine Program, please contact:
Megan McDonald
Program Manager, CO-DOC Telemedicine Program
303.806.7413
E-mail
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