Tele-health has great potential for patients

Ted Townsend's co-guest column (July 25) hit the right note. The future for tele-health is vast, and only beginning to be tapped. Iowa Health System will have the ultimate potential to have patient and physician tele-visits, consultations and second opinions with everyone sitting right in their own offices, across the state. The ability for my health care information to be available at any Iowa Health facility is a boon for my health.

Some tele-health programs are already in place. Iowa Health's Home Care in Des Moines uses home telemonitoring to send vital signs to a nurse from the patient's home, along with a question-and-answer system. www.iowahealthhomecare.org/body.cfm?id=47

This can be, in the future, adapted for home health care. The future is vast, and it is starting today.

Niles Ross

Cedar Rapids