Tuesday, March 3, 2015 | 8:40 p.m. CST; updated 10:29 p.m. CST, Tuesday, March 3, 2015
COLUMBIA What stands between a worried parent and the relief that comes with having answers about a child can seem as simple as a full tank of gas, a day off work and an appointment.
But those things can become insurmountable obstacles for people living in rural areas.
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A new joint effort of MU's Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Missouri Telehealth Network aims to make the inconvenience of distance irrelevant. The ECHO Autism project will provide health care providers in rural areas with the training they need to screen and recognize autism in places as far-flung as Poplar Bluff.
Kristin Sohl, the Thompson Center's medical director, calls the process "moving knowledge instead of people" by utilizingSkype technology to connect specialists in Columbia with primary care physicians in other areas of Missouri. Those participating just need Internet connection and a forward-facing camera.
ECHO projects are part of a growing health care trend called telehealth. It uses video conference technology to provide care to patients where they live. Providers in more than 40 specialties and subspecialties serve 72 Missouri counties from 220 telehealth sites, according to Mirna Becevic, the associate director of the Missouri Telehealth Network. These specialists provideone-on-one specialized care to patients.
ECHO projects use similar videoconferencing technology, but with specialists providing instruction to other health care providers instead of providing care directly.Sohl said this allows specialists to increase autism knowledge exponentially rather than treat one patient at a time, bringing best practices in autism care to primary care.
A national trend
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ECHO project strives to bring autism care to rural Missourians