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6 businesses and employment by new smaller schools;thereby improving the small businesses that will locate in North Carolina schools without impacting the large schools. due 'to availability of an advanced The latter appears to be the more appropriate communications infrastructure. solution Ii Health care: Other than advanced diagnostic Applications: and treatment systems such as VISTAnet, there are enormous opportunities to utilize Initial NC[H application identification and this technology to address two of the most development efforts have focussed in five critical issues in health care: access and cost. primary auras, although history has proven A broadband network allows physicians in that end users will develop applications that small rural hospitals and clinics to receive technologists overlook. The five areas of expert consultation from major medical concentration are: education, health care, carters. This can take several forms, from a criminal,Mice, economic development, and second opinion by an expert radiologist government efr'iciertcy. regarding a digitized X-ray showing a mysterious mass,to a dermatologist remotely Many of the primary educational examining a suspicious mole on an elderly applications were briefly described in the patient. While both of these consultations Vision Carolina summary and will not be can take place without a broadband network, repeated in this section Two additional the result is considerable inconvenience to applications are the opportunity for "video the patient and/or additional costs to the field trips" where students can get exposure tr eating facility in an attempt to keep the to potential oamations(such as health care) needed expertise on staff In many cases via the network without requiring excessive today, the patient will avoid traveling to a expense to the school or disruption to the medical center for further examination in "visited"location. In addition,these systems hopes that their condition will improve expose students to a variety of technology without additional treatment- The patient that they will use when the enter the wxk rarely ova, but mere often eventually force. Finally, distance leaning appears to arrives at the medical center in a more have a great deal of potential in addressing advanced stage of disease. The result is concerns over equity in education. More increased treatment cost and Increase than twenty states crarartly face or will soon mortality rates. In the other scenario, face equity litigation of one form or another, smaller facilities attempt to provide specialty and it is clear that financial resources do not expertise on staff and have difficulty exist to hire enough teachers to ensure that avoiding financial problems. Additional small rural schools have access to the same health care applications include better course variety as large urban schools. The continuing medical education oppommities two remaining options are that we: 1) lower and the Potential for lifetime medical records the standard of some schools and use the to be accessed from any location in the savings to raise the standard of others to an event of an accident or unexpected need. equitable level, or 2) utilize advanced There is also a significant opportunity to telecommunications technology to make utilize these systems to improve insurance resources of larger schools available to claim processing efficiency • and reduce 5 1