Salt Lake City-based Shriners Hospitals for Children is implementing a new telehealth system. To test it, the hospital invited visitors to participate. Instead of a physician being on the other end of a telehealth connection, it was Santa Claus. I am sure the children loved it.

Shriners plans to deploy the telehealth system for orthopedics. This is yet another example of the wide range of medicine able to take advantage of telehealth. The concept is consistent: extend the availability of a particular skill to patients who are remote or unable to travel to where the doctor is. In Shriners case, they have hospitals in Salt Lake City, Galveston, Texas, and Philadelphia. A particular speciality may not be available in all locations. Telehealth extends specialities to wherever they are needed. Read the story as reported by Becker’s here.