Title
Calling upon the Philadelphia Public Health Department to form a Strategic Planning Committee for the purpose of increasing the use of telemedicine options in City health centers and remote healthcare provisions through co-location at public-owned facilities in Philadelphia and for the Strategic Planning Committee to publish a written plan for increasing alternative healthcare delivery methods as was recommended in the recent hearing on Resolution 130886.
Body
WHEREAS, The establishment of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is listed in the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which calls for a team-based model of care that maximizes health options, preventive services, and communication; and
WHEREAS, Co-location and telemedicine are option-maximizing solutions to promote access to healthcare and to bring high-quality medicine to patients in need at an affordable cost; and
WHEREAS, Telemedicine provides services and access to healthcare specialists through video-consultations, as well as through the store and forward method, which allows primary care providers to capture photographs of the patient and forward them to specialists for diagnosis and treatment advice; and
WHEREAS, Co-location is a strategy that can house multiple health services in the same accessible physical place or locate one or more health services in underutilized community facilities, such as schools, recreation centers, PHA multi-family units or senior housing complexes, in order to promote and enhance healthcare options for people with mobility limitation and low-income residents of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Publically owned buildings, such as schools and recreational centers can and should be used to their full potential by being transformed into co-located health services centers that offer convenient community access and affordable healthcare services; and
WHEREAS, Universities in the area, such as the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, have already established programs that provide community outreach in areas of dental and mental health through the Penn SMILES Mobile Dental Clinic and Drexel's Psychological Services Center; and
WHEREAS, Technological healthcare services such as teledermatology, teleradiology, and social-anxiety treatments through mobile applications already have succeeded in the City of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Alternative healthcare services can provide both consultations, as well as, referrals for more complicated or specialized procedures depending on the needs of the patient; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Public Health Department should strategically plan to increase the use of co-location and telemedicine to promote and expand access to healthcare for low-income families, as well as to better utilize medical specialists among the City's health centers to improve overall patient care and medical communications between different city healthcare providers; and
WHEREAS, The 4th District of Philadelphia has approximately 20 recreational centers and is home to 25 public schools, several senior housing complexes and PHA multi-family sites that have space available for co-location of health services. Thus, the 4th Councilmanic District is a premier area of the City to pilot co-location of healthcare facilities; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council hereby calls upon the Philadelphia Public Health Department to form a Strategic Planning Committee for the purpose of increasing the use of telemedicine options in City health centers and the availability of remote healthcare provisions through co-location at public-owned facilities in Philadelphia and for the Strategic Planning Committee to publish a written plan for increasing alternative healthcare delivery methods.
End