Telemedicine Helps Arizona Hospital
Survive the Rural Hospital Closure Trend
B y J an e E r i k s o n o n
April 9, 2015
A
t a time when small rural hospitals
are increasingly closing their
doors, Bisbee’s Copper Queen
Community Hospital is bucking the trend.
One can point to a number of reasons why
the 14-bed critical access hospital, 10 miles
north of the Arizona-Mexico border, is able
to maintain a healthy bottom line. One
reason is Copper Queen’s robust use of
telemedicine.
It started with telestroke, in collaboration
with the Mayo Clinic – Phoenix. Former
Bisbee Mayor Jack Porter says Copper
Queen’s telestroke service enabled him
to walk within a few hours of a paralyzing
ischemic event. “I didn’t have a stroke,”
Mr. Porter tells people. “I had a stroke of
luck.”
In a small town like Bisbee – population
about 5,400 – word gets around.
Marketing 101.
The benefits of telemedicine were
obvious to Copper Queen CEO Jim
16
Dickson, and over the last few years
the hospital has added telecardiology,
teleneurology, teleconcussion, teleburn
and telepediatrics, and Mr. Dickson is
“now looking at teleorthopaedics.”
“We’re becoming a virtual hospital in the
specialty levels of medicine,” he declares.
And it’s paying off.
“With telecardiology, in six months, we
saved over $1.4 million in transportation
fees, by not having to ship people with
atrial fib to Tucson and Phoenix.
“And just in the last two years, we’ve had
enough broadband to do telemedicine in
our three clinics. I can tell you that we’re
the first hospital in the United States to
use telecardiology in our ER, in med-surg
and in our clinics.”
Neurology and teleconcussion are
additional services for which Copper
Queen partners with Mayo Clinic –
Phoenix. Teleconcussion includes baseline