VA looks to video to better serve Vets

Technology

VA looks to video to better serve Vets

The Veterans Affairs Department is hoping high-fidelity video will add a personal touch for vets who don’t live near major medical centers around the country.

Federal News Network Staff

April 7, 2009 6:01 am

< a min read

The Veterans Affairs Department is hoping high-fidelity video will add a personal touch for vets who don’t live near major medical centers around the country.

Government Computer News reports a video-conferencing tool will allow clinicians to have real-time sessions with veterans or family members who are not able to travel or who do not live near major clinics.

“We have under way our first generation of what we are referring to as the Enterprise Video Teleconferencing Network,” said David Cheplick, director of VA’s Office of Telecommunications.

The pilot program combines AT&T’s TelePresence Solution with Cisco Systems’ TelePresence technology.

Cheplick says the TelePresence system could also be a learning tool for physicians. Clinicians could provide consultations or learn various skills by watching other physicians perform surgery remotely.

AT&T calls the technology a “fully-managed, scalable, highly secure and reliable environment to meet with customers, partners and suppliers as if you were meeting face to face.”