Telemedicine

In 1995, Northern Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority (NARBHA) applied for grant funding from the Arizona Department of Health Services to develop a telemedicine network in Northern Arizona. Telemedicine was an excellent fit for Northern Arizona because of the large geographic area (62,000 square miles); sparse population; long drive times for providers, patients, and staff; and difficulty recruiting and retaining psychiatrists in the outlying, isolated small towns. Funding was approved, and by November 1996, Arizona's first interactive telemedicine network, NARBHAnet, was up and running with a videoconferencing bridge and six endpoints.

Since then, NARBHAnet:

• has grown to 34 (35-37 in the next couple of weeks!) directly connected endpoints spread throughout all five counties of rural Northern Arizona; 5 Arizona State Hospital sites in Phoenix; the Arizona Council and Foundation for Human Services Providers in Phoenix; and the Navajo and White Mountain Apache Regional Behavioral Health Authorities in Window Rock and Whiteriver), Gila River RHBA (Sacaton, AZ), plus three psychiatric providers from out of state (also, a provider in Scottsdale, AZ).
• has accommodated more than 48,000 clinical sessions.
• has been recognized as a national leader in telemedicine and was featured in the New York Times in 2006

Since the establishment of NARBHA's telemedicine network more than 12 years ago, NARBHA has assisted and collaborated with other agencies statewide to create a strong, viable, highly utilized network that:

• provides easily accessible psychiatric care to patients in remote areas
• allows case management and face-to-face psychiatric consultations without travel
• disseminates formal trainings and Continuing Medical Education units to any endpoint on the network
• allows agency and provider staff to meet without leaving their work sites

For more information or to schedule meetings using Telemedicine resources, go to www.rbha.net