VidyoHealth enables remote medical examinations

Hi-def videoconferencing system is designed to meet health-care needs.

Naples, Fla., cardiologist Julian Javier likes to look into his patients eyes to see how alert they are and to see their complexion when he makes diagnoses, so he was interested in some sort of videoconferencing system that could give him that glimpse without requiring prohibitively expensive gear on the patient's end.

Bank uses collaboration to cut travel expenses by 40 per cent

Three years ago he came across Vidyo, which makes video gear that optimizes connections based on the bandwidth available, the network conditions and the equipment being used at all points on a conference.

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Naples, Fla., cardiologist Julian Javier likes to look into his patients eyes to see how alert they are and to see their complexion when he makes diagnoses, so he was interested in some sort of videoconferencing system that could give him that glimpse without requiring prohibitively expensive gear on the patient's end.

Bank uses collaboration to cut travel expenses by 40 per cent

Three years ago he came across Vidyo, which makes video gear that optimizes connections based on the bandwidth available, the network conditions and the equipment being used at all points on a conference.

The key for him was the cost – about $7,000 three years ago – which is significantly less than telepresence alternatives from other vendors that can cost $100,000 or more and that also require dedicated lines in order to deliver high quality images.

Javier says remote patients got blood pressure cuffs to measure pressure and heart rate, blood-oxygen monitors, and electronic stethoscopes that record their heartbeat and lung sounds to audio files that they e-mail to him, but he still didn't get that visual input.

Vidyo provides the images over DSL Internet connections on the patient's end. They install a Vidyo client on their PCs, hook up hi-def cameras and they are all set to conference with the doctor for an exam. "The only thing I can't do is palpate them," he says.

Because the technology works over standard Internet connections patients bring their laptops and cameras along with them when they travel so if they need to consult with Javier, they can. "If you get caught in Costa Rica, what do you do?" he says.
Now the company has fine-tuned its equipment especially for medical uses in a package called VidyoHealth, which costs a $10,000 premium over the company's standard gear.

VidyoHealth incorporates a USB device for remote users that provides a single button they press to join a conference with their doctor to simplify the process. It includes software that allows the doctor to control the focus and angle of the remote camera, and a data channel that can send uncompressed traffic such as MRIs for doctors to view on their screens during consultations.

Doctors can control who is admitted to each conference via an appliance called VidyoPortal. Video signaling is encrypted using AES 128 encryption and the actual media streams are encrypted over HTTPS sessions.

VidyoHealth is available within the next two months.

Read more about voip & convergence in Network World's VoIP & Convergence section.