The Mayo Clinic is moving its telemedicine practice onto a single technology platform to speed up online consultations between doctors and specialists during a medical emergency.

Mayo Clinics emergency telemedicine program previously worked with several vendors, but now InTouch Technologies Inc., a Santa Barbara, Calif., telemedicine vendor, will be Mayos sole telemedicine platform provider, Mayo says.

The move to a single platform will enable Mayo facilities to connect to a universal emergency telemedicine system with a single user name and password.

There were numerous challenges with using multiple vendors for our telemedicine practice because each vendor had different interfaces and equipment, technical capabilities and control boards, says Dr. Bart Demaerschalk, Mayos medical director for its emergency telemedicine program. Practitioners could not use the same user name and password.

A single telemedicine platform provides consistent metrics, enhanced data security and improves the operational reliability of the telemedicine program, Demaerschalk says.

The payoff for patients and medical practitioners is better diagnosis and development of treatment plans for time-sensitive medical emergencies, especially in medically underserved communities, Demaerschalk says.

Doctors in Mayo-affiliated hospitals can use the telemedicine program to consult medical and surgical specialists for such emergency conditions as a stroke, neurosurgery, neonatal resuscitation, emergency medicine, psychiatry and critical care.

Mayos telemedicine program is connected to more than 50 affiliated hospitals and facilities in nine states. Mayo also treats more than 5,000 patients annually through it telemedicine program.

We are aiming to provide access to the best specialists in a timely manner, Demaerschalk says. We can also work collaboratively with local medical professionals to prevent unnecessary air or ground transport of a patient, enhance delivery of care in the community and help triage patients who may require a higher level of care or intervention.

Mayos telemedicine program is a service of the Mayo Clinic Center for Connected Care, which works with clinical departments and practices within Mayo to develop plans for delivering remote care via telemedicine and other forms of mobile health.

Mayo didnt disclose the financial details of its emergency telemedicine consolidation project.