"Project ECHO has proven that technology can help overcome traditional barriers to adequate healthcare treatment, such as distance, income and lack of specialized medical professionals for underserved communities with no access to treatment," said Sanjeev Arora, MD, project director and executive vice chairman for the Department of Medicine at the UNM Health Sciences Center.

Since the system is delivered via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, it reduces potential technology barriers that previously existed in rural health clinics. The SaaS model is enabled through Infosys' Service-Oriented Architecture-based integration solution. It enables retrieval, sharing and use of data captured across disparate healthcare IT systems.

The software will make it possible for Project ECHO to expand to multiple chronic diseases and health conditions such as HIV, cardiac conditions, mental health disorders, diabetes, autism and substance-abuse disorders, among others.

"The University of New Mexico is at the forefront of an industry shift toward adopting technology as an enabling platform to better patient treatment and faster care delivery," said Eric Paternoster, senior vice president and head for insurance, health and life sciences, at Infosys Technologies. "Project ECHO represents the best practices in healthcare IT, which is core to its vision of care. That progressive strategy has buoyed its leadership in its field."

How does your community or region employ IT in treating or monitoring patients with chronic diseases? E-mail your comments to Editor Bernie Monegain at bernie.monegain@medtechpublishing.com.