The Dr.com is In: TWC Launching Virtual Visit

Time Warner Cable has launched what is says is its first "virtual visit" telemedicine trial.

The Cleveland Clinic will be the guinea pig for the effort, part of TWC's Home Health Monitoring business service.

Allowing patients and doctors to interact remotely via a broadband connection is one of the key benefits to broadband deployment being promoted by the Obama Administration, particularly given that it could both make it both easier and less expense to reach remote areas with healthcare.

Through Home Healthcare Monitoring, TWC develops and tests healthcare services in partnership with key healthcare stakeholders like the clinic.

"To truly transform the healthcare system of today and prepare us for the healthcare needs of tomorrow, we have to rethink how, and where, we deliver care to patients. We know that great care can be delivered where patients want to be most: in their homes, and we see telemedicine as a way to help us do that better and more efficiently," said Dr. Eiran Gorodeski, director of the Center for Connected Care at the clinic, in a statement.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.