FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

 

For more information, contact:

UTHSC Communications and Marketing

Elizabeth Maynard-Garrett, APR

 (901) 448-4957 or

Anne W. Manning

(901) 448-4072

 

UTHSC WINS GRANT TO EXTEND RURAL PATIENT ACCESS TO SPECIALIZED CANCER CARE

           

Memphis, Tennessee (June 22, 2005) – Thanks to a $1.5 million three-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), rural Mid-South cancer patients can now be treated by leading oncology and hematology specialists with the UT Cancer Institute (UTCI).

The grant allows UTHSC to extend its established telehealth network to include the Technology Exchange for Cancer Health Network (TECH-Net). The newly launched network will link ten UTCI cancer outreach centers in the tri-state area—Eastern Arkansas, Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee—with specialists and researchers of UTHSC, Methodist Healthcare and UTCI.

“TECH-Net is a major breakthrough for Mid-South cancer patients who need regular, managed cancer care but live a distance from the medical center,” said Karen Fox, PhD, executive director of the telehealth network and assistant dean of the UTHSC College of Medicine.  “For example, a patient in Forrest City, Arkansas, can go to the UT Cancer Institute there and, via video conference, be examined by a hematologist, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist or behavioral health specialist, whatever is required.”

The second phase of the project involves creating an electronic medical record database with decision support systems which means the patient can be in any one of the ten outreach centers and physicians can access his or her record and consult from several locations.

“The TECH-Net system is primarily about patient access; but there are also huge potential benefits in terms of cost savings, safety and the overall quality of cancer care throughout the region,” noted Dr. Fox.

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