Healthcare providers worldwide have been interested in video communications for some
time. Telemedicine and telehealth has been around for over 15-20 years in terms of using
interactive video conferencing and there are exciting applications for rural telemedicine,
continuing medical education, access to remote specialists, televised surgeries, and dental
applications to name a few. In an industry that is in search of ways to improve efficiency and access more cost effective care, video communications provides several benefits.

This year's ATA (American Telemedicine Association) meeting on May 7-10 in San Diego was proof that telemedicine and video communications in healthcare is alive and well. There were over 2,000 participants from around the world. Over 80-90% of the people that I spoke with had specific programs or hands-on experience with video conferencing. But this year's event seemed to have a rush of excitement around the first delivery of high definition video communications. In fact, the special interest groups that discuss technology and applications moved High Definition to the most important discussion topic once they realized that it is in fact now available, that the quality is stunning and cost effective.

As you would expect from the healthcare community, participants want to learn as much as
they can about this new option for high definition and better quality at lower bandwidths
than what they have had access to over the past 15+ years. Common questions that came up at the event were:

• How much bandwidth is required for high definition?
• What is true high definition - resolution-wise?
• What is the impact for interoperability with legacy systems, is it standards-based?
• How much do the systems cost?
• What peripherals can be plugged in for education and telemedicine usage?
• What specialties will benefit the most from higher quality?
• How soon can we get these systems in our program? Many programs were discussing
   technology refresh and replacement of legacy systems.

Even given these questions, the excitement was abundantly clear. In order for healthcare providers to have the confidence to provide remote, world-class healthcare, they want the best possible quality images and audio. The healthcare providers at the event were clearly delighted to see innovation in this area that is not cost prohibitive. The introduction of simple to use, high definition video communications systems may in fact be a key inflection point in the use of video communications for the healthcare market.

For answers to the questions above, visit www.lifesize.com and access our white papers and
special reports.