TELEMEDICINE IN THE SERVICE OF OPHTHALMOLOGY IN THE MOSCOW REGION

The urgency of creation and maintenance of hardware and software complex “Telemedicine of Moscow Region” consists in realization of possibility of receiving by citizens of highly qualified consulting medical care in the territory of the Moscow Region irrespective of the place of residence. The developed complex of software and hardware allowed to create and actively use the tele-information system (TIS). TIS provides implementation of processes of the organization and carrying out telemedicine consultations between treatment and preventive institutions of various level of the Moscow Region entering into system “Telemedicine of Moscow Area” with use of means of video conferencing. We carried out an evaluation of the economic efficiency of the introduction of telemedicine in patients with diabetes mellitus. Teleconsultation, on average, requires 2.8 times less costs compared to the journey of the patient in consultative diagnostic division, or Ophthalmic-Diabetes Center, 3.6 times less compared to the visit to the area of mobile laser team specialists and 10.7 times less in comparison with personal consultation in a Federal Institution of Health of Moscow. Accordingly, the economic effect when replacing 500 visits of specialists to the regions of the region will be 697.5 thousand rubles. Taking into account the positive experience of the leading telemedicine projects of the Russian Federation, a wider introduction of telemedicine technologies is required to support joint decision-making and continuous medical education of endocrinologists and ophthalmologists.