Forecast on the application of Japanese universal service fund to remote diagnosis for frozen section.
Due to the socioeconomic reason in Japan, some cancer patient is sometimes operated at a rural hospital where only several surgeons perform and no pathologist checks its malignancy. Therefore, the system of the remote diagnosis for frozen section has been standing up in this country for 7 years. In Japan, the USF has started from February 2007 to support only telecommunications operator's hardware (NTT's equipment such as digital switch board) in high cost areas, not for the reimbursement of the tariff of the public users, such as telepathology. To solve such social cormorant equality, when the USF and PAs were supported in the present quick frozen intraoperative telepathology diagnosis, the quality of the cancer treatment in rural area will be improved. Based on the past data of the Japanese telepathology with beta distribution function, it can be estimated that user terminals becomes five times more than present users with support of USF and PAs. Moreover, using VPN on the B'FLETS, the effect of other teleconsultations will spread to the nationwide.
Nakajima
Isao
I
Graduate School of Applied Informatics, University of Hyogo, Kobe, Japan. Jh1rnz@aol.com
D003199:Computer Systems; D005380:Financing, Government; D005544:Forecasting; D005629:Frozen Sections; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019035:Rural Health Services; D019113:Telepathology / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends