Outreach services for providers

    Telehealth

    SIU's Model

    Our program offers access to care through virtual care strategies, bringing SIU Medicine specialists to your facility through clinical video and telecommunications technologies. With a multitude of specialties and subspecialties available, specialized care is now a reality for many patients. Close collaboration with local primary care providers is part of the SIU Telehealth model.

    Telehealth offers four fundamental benefits:

    • Improved Access – For over 40 years, telehealth has been used to bring healthcare services to patients in distant locations. Not only does telehealth improve access to patients but it also allows physicians and health facilities to expand their reach, beyond their own offices. Given the provider shortages throughout the world--in both rural and urban areas-- telehealth has a unique capacity to increase service to millions of new patients.
       
    • Cost Efficiencies – Reducing or containing the cost of healthcare is one of the most important reasons for funding and adopting telehealth technologies. Telehealth has been shown to reduce the cost of healthcare and increase efficiency through better management of chronic diseases, shared health professional staffing, reduced travel times, and fewer or shorter hospital stays.
       
    • Improved Quality – Studies have consistently shown that the quality of health care services delivered via telehealth is as good as those given in traditional in-person consultations. In some specialties, particularly in mental health and ICU care, Telehealth delivers a superior product, with greater outcomes and patient satisfaction.
       
    • Patient Demand – Consumers want telehealth. The greatest impact of telehealth is on the patient, their family and their community. Using telehealth technologies reduces travel time and related stresses for the patient. Over the past 15 years, study after study has documented patient satisfaction and support for telemedical services. Such services offer patients access to providers that might not be available otherwise, as well as medical services without the need to travel long distances.

    Interesting in partnering to provide your patients with telehealth services and access to specialists? Learn how we can help: Call 217-545-8000.

    Clinical Services

    The following services are available to telehealth-enabled patient sites. Sites will require a trained tele-presenter available for virtual visits and in some instances, an advanced level practitioner trained to do certain on-site services, to prevent patients from having to travel for care. In most services, patients' insurance coverage is billed by SIU providers or services are patient self-pay. Tele-presenters must be licensed healthcare professionals to meet eligibility requirements for Medicaid billing. Specialties include:

    • Dermatology
    • Endocrinology (diabetes management)
    • Pulmonary Medicine
    • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
    • Genetics
    • Oncology – Clinical Psychology Supportive Care
    • Pediatric Neonatology
    • Psychiatry
    • Pediatric & Pediatric Specialties

    Project ECHO

    Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) transforms the way rural, underserved communities learn and share knowledge. Coordinated by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the SIU-IHA ECHO provides a virtual network for experts to mentor and share their medical expertise.

    Originally launched in 2003 at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center, Project ECHO has grown into a national model of telementoring that addresses more than 100 complex health conditions. The ECHO modelTM does not provide care to patients, but, rather, it provides front-line clinicians with the knowledge and support they need to treat patients with challenging conditions, including opioid addiction and hypertension.

    Series include:

    • Hypertension
    • Opioids
    • Memory and Aging
    • Community Health Workers

    To learn more or join an upcoming series, visit siumed.org/cpd/project-echo or request more information.

    Continuing Medical Education

    SIU School of Medicine advocates and supports the continuing professional development of health care professionals. The medical school provides a full range of educational experiences that enhance the practitioner's knowledge base, provide updates and review, and expand professional skills. In the tradition of the medical school, the target audience of our programs includes the broad range of the medical profession, from full-time practitioners to academic physicians with special interests in research and teaching, as well as other allied health care professionals.

    To view a list of upcoming CME events, visit the Office of Continuing Professional Development.