The Mansfield Health Education Center is a state-of-the-art conference facility that offers interactive video conferencing through the Partners in Health Telemedicine Network (PHTN). The Network delivers education to healthcare professionals and the community, and provides telemedicine to rural sites throughout the vast state of Montana. One of the Center's eight rooms can accommodate 240 people and enable "town hall" video conferences by connecting up to 50 video-equipped sites in a single call. This format frequently covers government healthcare policy discussions, while the main use of the Center's video resources is continuing education for a large and diverse audience of healthcare professionals.

Making the Connections

The Partners in Health Telemedicine IP video network is based on 28 Polycom® video conferencing systems located throughout the state of Montana and includes the company's flagship VSX^TM 5000 and VSX 7000 series, which deliver the industry's best audio and video quality. A Polycom MGC^TM-100 multipoint bridge enables the connection of up to 20 sites in one video call and audio bridging for the hospital's day-to-day administrative needs and voice conferencing. "From one end of our video network to the other is about a seven-hour drive," explains Tom Brewer, Director of Operations for the Mansfield Health Education Center. "So the importance of eliminating that distance and seeing patients immediately and in real time cannot be emphasized enough."

In the Mansfield Center's integrated conference rooms, rack-mounted Polycom video systems are combined with Polycom Vortex® installed voice solutions. "We've been amazed with the voice quality and clarity," says Brewer, "and their ease of use and configuration is a real plus." When Brewer and his team decided to migrate from an ISDN to an IP network they implemented the Polycom Voice, Video Interface Unit (V2IU^TM) network addressing and firewall traversal solution. Brewer expects to see savings of more than $7,000 annually as a result.

A Connected Network

PHTN is part of a unique "network of networks." "We're interconnected with telemedicine networks all over the region," Brewer says. "Each of our networks has a Polycom MGC bridge, and each endpoint includes a V2IU to ensure that the connections work securely and reliably throughout the network."

The Future of Healthcare Delivery

Looking forward, Brewer sees only more opportunity to leverage state-of-the-art technology to best meet the needs of healthcare providers and their patients.