Hughes Network Systems (HNS) is providing very small aperture terminal (VSAT) equipment for TeleHealth, which consists of a series of communications links connecting health-care providers with remote residents of the Keeweetinok Lakes Health Region No. 15 in Alberta, Canada. The system employs the HNS inTELEconference system, which provides videoconference links via satellite for point-to-point or multipoint conferencing in a full-mesh network architecture. HNS is working in conjunction with Raytheon Systems Canada (formerly Hughes Aircraft of Canada, Ltd.), Raytheon Training Inc. (formerly Hughes Training, Inc.), and Telesat Canada.

In 1994, the Alberta government restructured its province into 17 Regional Health Authorities (RHAs). Keeweetinok Lakes RHA No. 15, an area of approximately 19,000 sq. miles (50,000 sq. kilometers), contains a population of 25,000 people, widely dispersed over great expanses of land. For this reason, remote areas have difficulty retaining physicians, and doctors are discouraged from setting up local practices. For patients, travel to and from doctors and health care facilities is often problematic. Using the inTELEconference network, Raytheon Training LINKcare(R) TeleHealth systems will provide services such as direct assessments, doctor-patient interaction ranging from consultation to endoscopic and dentistry applications and continuing education for healthcare practitioners.

Executing this type of service terrestrially or through point-to-point satellite was either too expensive or impractical. Instead, through inTELEconference, six Alberta communities are linked for TeleHealth applications and are also connected with Edmonton, Calgary and other centers through Canada so they can directly communicate with each other.

The links are facilitated by HNS VSAT equipment, which connects the centers to a radiology clinic in Calgary and will join patients with health-care providers at the University of Alberta and the Caritas Group, three hospitals in Edmonton. The Alberta sites share the cost of one up-and-down satellite link rather than bear the expense of a terrestrial communication network.

The HNS inTELEconference network, in conjunction with Raytheon T&S LINKcare(R) Consultation-Referral TeleHealth System (TM2S), allows doctors and specialists to interact directly with patients who are tens or even hundreds of miles away with full two-way video and audio, medical diagnostics devices such as EKGs and X-rays, patient records and more. Doctors now are able to prequalify patients remotely to determine if they should consult specialists. For health care professionals, the network and system facilitate distance learning for educational updates and allow participants to hold meetings more conveniently. In addition, home care and long-term care become much less a burden on both patient and doctor. The potential for time and cost savings provided by the HNS/Raytheon T&S systems is high.

HNS' inTELEconference system consists of VSAT satellite earth stations of each TeleHealth videoconference remote station and a single network control center station for the entire network of any number of remote stations. InTELEconference, with LINKcare(R) TM2S and TRIAGE, an easy-to-use consultation system to acquire medical information, provides high-quality video using data rates of 384 and 256 kbps. The dynamic bandwidth allocation feature of the Raytheon T&S system allows 4 conferencing modes to suit any application or desired communication format.

HNS supplies communications equipment and software to Telesat, which in turn provides communications engineering, maintenance, satellite service and space segment for the project. Raytheon Systems Canada uses Raytheon T&S TeleHealth platforms and bundles TM2S and TRIAGE with the inTELEconference network system, providing a full service offering to Health Region #15. The Canadian government, the province of Alberta and Amoco Canada, in addition to several other business partners, are providing financial support for the network and systems.

Alberta, a province of approximately 212,000 sq. miles (550,000 sq. kilometers), is in the process of installing its TeleHealth systems in a completely community-driven TeleHealth network. A larger network is planned that will include TeleHealth stations throughout Alberta and possibly mobile clinics using TeleHealth vans with attached satellite dishes. Approximately 160 systems will ultimately be installed in the 17 Health Regions. Health Region No. 15 is considered to be the first commercial application for TeleHealth in Canada. It is also being considered as a reference for communities and organizations who are interested in the inTELEconference system for TeleHealth and distance education applications.

"HNS is pleased to be part of a network that has such a positive impact upon its users. Satellite hookups are being used to bring the world increasingly closer together, and HNS, with 60 percent of the world's VSAT market, is a large part of that," stated Andrew Werth, president of HNS International.

"The ability to share consultation with the specialist between patient and physician is quite an advantage," said Dr. Raymond Howard, regional director of the Keeweetinok Lakes health region. "I think that in 10 years' time, people won't believe these systems did not exist, because they will be the norm."