Swedish Medical Center, the largest medical center in the Pacific Northwest, will enable remote hospitals to access its nationally recognized stroke team for stroke support services.

It's all part of the U.S. telemedicine device and service market that is projected to reach $3.6 billion a year by 2014, according to a study by research firm Pike & Fischer, A shortage of child and adult psychologists, as well as primary care physicians, especially in rural areas, is also driving growth in the telemedicine market. National healthcare reform, with telemedicine being a component to enable access to healthcare, is also expected to drive the market.

GCI ConnectMD is providing the real-time connection for the Swedish Acute TeleStroke Program through its telemedicine-based technology and secure network. Hospitals, especially rural facilities, throughout Washington State are now able to provide bedside neurological evaluations through the telemedicine network.

They will be able to transmit CT scans and other diagnostic images to the Swedish Medical Center stroke team at the Cherry Hill campus in Seattle. The ability to view brain scans enables the stroke team to provide accurate diagnosis and treatment in a timely fashion, thereby decreasing potential neurological damage.

"Specialty medicine is hard to support in rural areas," said Sandy Kukla, a nurse and senior program manager for GCI ConnectMD. Swedish Medical Center approached GCI ConnectMD about a year ago looking for a network and engineering partner to provide stroke expertise on a 24/7 basis to outlying community facilities.

GCI was founded in 1979 in Alaska, where the need for an integrated medical network in a rural state was critical. The company entered the Washington State market three years ago and is the only telecommunications-grade networks in the Pacific Northwest, said Kukla.