Telemedicine in an academic center--the Arizona Telemedicine Program

This article provides background information on the history of telemedicine in Arizona and the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP). Following a brief overview of the growth of the ATP over the past 16 years, special focus is directed toward a description of the ATP business model, sustainability efforts of the Program, and ATP's future directions and goals. The ATP was established by the Arizona State Legislature in 1996 and, today, operates a large university-based statewide telemedicine consortium. It provides a spectrum of telemedicine support services to dozens of independent healthcare organizations throughout Arizona and bordering states. The ATP's backbone is a regional, 160-site dedicated healthcare and education broadband telecommunications network called the Arizona Telemedicine Network (ATN). The ATN is a fixed-cost network operated 24/7 by ATP engineers. In addition to providing access to the ATN, the ATP also provides its member individuals and organizations with benefits including biomedical communications services and expertise, telemedicine training on financial, legal, regulatory, and administrative support aspects, and access to subspecialty telemedicine consultation services.