Telemedicine gives doctors another option to reach rural Hoosier youth

While many kids use technology for digital music and video games, technology also is delivering digital diagnoses and video consultations to improve health care for rural youth.

Nearly one-fourth of Hoosier children live in rural communities, and rural communities have fewer doctors and hospitals. Nationally, only 9 percent of doctors serve in rural areas and according to the Rural Health Research and Policy Center, “Rural hospitals have less access to physicians trained in emergency medicine, in pediatrics, or in pediatric emergency medicine.”

For the past decade, technology has evolved to connect health care practitioners, prognoses and prescriptions for the benefit of patients. However, the advent of “telemedicine” has been slow to reach rural areas.

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