The Georgia State Telemedicine Program: initiation, design, and plans.

This paper describes the genesis, implementation, and operation of the Georgia Statewide Telemedicine Program, a full-service system that provides a comprehensive range of clinical and consultative services to all residents of the state through a hub-and-spoke network. When completed, it will consist of several tertiary-care centers and a set of secondary hubs at medical centers throughout the state. Each hub will, in turn, serve several remote sites. The system enables connectivity throughout the network, and the overall coordination, implementation, and oversight is provided by the Center for Telemedicine at the Medical College of Georgia. The evolution of the system is described, together with lessons learned from the experience.