Colorado's Department of Corrections telehealth program for inmates has grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was primarily used for psychiatry, according to Sept. 20 reporting in GCN.
The leading telehealth consultation for inmates is now cardiology; however, the program is set to expand to neurology, dermatology and rheumatology. CDOC Chief Medical Officer Randolph Maul, MD, cited technologies such as the JEDMED Omni Stethoscope and the Horus Digital Scope System as innovations that have made telehealth expansion easier.
Telehealth use overall is 38 times greater than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have places where we have incarcerated persons where there aren't any particular specialists," Dr. Maul said. "We have to be able to provide care, even for those that are remote, and that's the key that I believe is telemedicine. … This begins to address inequity."