GCI ConnectMD

GCI ConnectMD is a private medical network made up of clinics, hospitals, and medical corporations, securely and reliably exchanging medical data and critical health information throughout our network. ConnectMD is owned and operated by GCI (Nasdaq: GNCMA), an Alaska-based telecommunications company that has been successfully providing solutions to customers for over 25 years.

Situation

In remote or rural communities where environments are often too harsh to allow access to vital health services, or too expensive to try connect, providers are cut-off from the advancing healthcare technologies and unable to keep up with the increasing care demands of their communities. In these rural areas (which make up the vast majority of the nations landscape) patients are ultimately the one’s whose care needs suffer, or at best remain crippled. Care facilities and providers in these areas often lack funding and resources to implement HIT and even some more basic care services. As a result, these communities, their providers and patients are unable able to access the specialized services and even basic health communications that drive the urban care and improve the health population of the nation. They are unable to access “today’s” health technology solutions, let alone contribute to tomorrows advances. Simply, they can’t connect.

Solution

GCI ConnectMD, which is owned by GCI (NASDAQ: GNCMA), has pioneered the largest medical network in the Pacific Northwest. With over 25 years of Telecom experience providing secure and reliable voice, video, cable and data services to the state of Alaska, GCI was uniquely positioned to leverage their telecom infrastructure in order to build a robust medical network to meet the challenging healthcare needs of Alaskan’s and, more recently, in Washington State.

The ConnectMD medical network is collaborative healthcare environment made up of over 140 clinics, hospitals, and medical corporations, connecting the medical community of the Northwestern U.S. Spanning throughout Alaska, from Anchorage down to Seattle, and across Washington State, the network is bridging the gap between rural and urban healthcare.

Designed to speed adoption of HIT and expand healthcare services to rural and remote communities, ConnectMD has accomplished nothing short of a “medical miracle” for the geographically challenging landscapes of Alaska and rural communities in Eastern Washington State. As a collaborative effort, the network is delivering specialty services, teleradiology, remote video and voice solutions, and clinical technology to those communities previously out of reach. And with its telecom infrastructure, ConnectMD is able to offer unique array of service bundles to meet its member’s needs.

The most remote tribal villages can get internet, voice and network connections all via GCI’s satellite system. And more, utilizing the ConnectMD’s service bundles, these remote and rural clinics are transforming their practices and boosting patient care with ConnectMD’s electronic health record and practice management solutions- these advances were previously impossible! ConnectMD is completely “wiring” rural communities and delivering advanced healthcare to these providers and their communities.

Also offering VSAT technology, rural and remote, and even urban networks, can now have redundant, back-up connection to their applications in the event of and emergency or natural disaster. ConnectMD offers remote back-up satellite systems that can be stored onsite or deployed in any remote location. This means that if there were a disaster such as an earthquake, flood or fire, a staff member simply throws a switch (or this can be automatic) and the system acquires the satellite and ensures connectivity for the facility. As a result, practices can still use their EHR and clinical applications, so patient care is not interrupted. In the wake of disasters like Katrina, with these services in place, lives can be saved and critical health data disasters (like Katrina) can be avoided.

The network also boasts of powerful communication and video conferencing tools. And because of ConnectMD’s healthcare partners like, Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle), a physician in Barrow, Alaska or Republic, Washington can access world class continuing medical education (CME) and training services via the networks videoconferencing tools. This means there is reduced need for travel, and these remote and rural providers can offer their patients specialized services without the added costs and time wastes. These are just a few of the ways the network is improving rural and remote care.

Using the networks teleradiology services, a facility Kodiak can choose to send a pediatric radiology study to a specialist at Alaska Regional Medical Center, or for that matter, Children’s Hospital in Seattle- within a few minutes the specialist can review the finding and submit results back to the physician. Previously, those routings took days, even weeks, or not at all; patients would be forced to make costly flights to see a specialist.

As a perfect marriage of telecom and healthcare technology, ConnectMD’s network is transforming patient care and advancing medical practices across the region. This collaborative environment is providing the HIT solutions and infrastructure, never before available in remote and rural communities in our country. Healthcare providers and patients alike are gaining critical access to the 21st century demands of improving care across the spectrum and across state borders. As a vital part of the medical network, each provider, care organization, each patient are participating with the advancement of health information and contributing to GCI ConnectMD’s mission to bridge the gap between rural and urban healthcare.

Better Health & Lower Cost

Connecting Practices

• Offering affordable and advanced clinical and financial applications, rural clinics are now implementing web-based electronic health records (EHR) and practice management systems (PMS); this is directly translating into reduced care cost, lower AR days and improved patient outcomes.
• Utilizing GCI ConnectMD’s teleradiology services, critical access hospitals and clinics across Eastern Washington are able to pass vital radiology studies in a few minutes instead of the previous hours- speeding the time to accurate diagnosis and offering physician’s a choice in where to seek a specialists help.

Advancing Chronic Care

• The medical network offers the latest clinical applications, supporting evidence based medicine, P4P, quality and state reporting functions. These application offerings ensure GCI ConnectMD is offering the most advanced decision support services to its members and their patient communities.

Improving Communication

• Utilizing GCI’s telecommunications infrastructure, GCI ConnectMD provides HIPAA secure, reliable and redundant fiber and satellite connectivity- vital for ensuring remote access to medical services and facilities.
• In partnership with Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, ConnectMD provides world-class CME and CNE courses to the entire Alaska-Washington medical community. And, these services are offered remotely via ConnectMD’s videoconferencing solutions, removing the geographic access barriers which formerly forced providers to travel, reducing practice time.

Rapid HIT Adoption

• Via the medical network rural communities are gaining access to critical health infrastructure, previously out of reach to these areas. For example, Kodiak Community Health Center (KCHC) in Kodiak, Alaska, recently implemented ConnectMD’s web-based EHR, brining state-of-the-art clinical technology where none existed before. 
• The ConnectMD medical network offers a foundational communications infrastructure, directly contributing to HIT expansion at the state level.
• As a critical disaster recovery and emergency access vehicle, GCI ConnectMD also offers its members Satellite Back-up connectivity (VSAT) to ensure network connection in the event of a natural disaster or emergency.