BetterMed Uses Satellite Internet as a Primary Connection for Telemedical Practice

The telemedicine industry is rapidly expanding. As such, challenges have presented themselves. Telemedicine requires a high level of accessibility, reliability, and security for all internet connections associated with doctors’ visits, evaluations, and treatment. Ask any Telemedicine doctor and they will tell you that not all internet connections are equal. This means that the customer experience and quality of care can be impacted by your internet.

As you venture deeper into more advanced telemedicine specialties stakes get higher. For instance, internet accessibility and reliability play an even more important role when you venture into robotic telemedicine.

This is particularly true for our client, Dr. Davit Mrelashvili, an independent Neurologist who runs a medical practice called BetterMed. Through his practice, he sees, evaluates, and treats critically ill patients using robotic telemedicine technology by Intouch Health.

The Challenge

For the last year, Dr. Mrelashvili has been operating his practice remotely from Puerto Rico while treating patients in hospitals throughout the United States.

As a Telemedical Neurologist, he is required not only to host office visits with patients, but to access treatment rooms, navigate from bed-to-bed, and read test results for patients who aren’t even located in the same time zone.

Accordingly, he needs an exceptionally reliable internet connection to provide high-quality care and experiences for his patients. For a better sense of how this technology works, we’ve provided a video that showcases how Dr. Mrelashvili accesses and treats patients remotely from the comfort of his home office.

The Solution

*All video footage was used with permission and does not include any patients or patient data.

Dr. Mrelashvili recently switched his primary service to Expedition Communications. Before switching providers, he was working with a local carrier and experienced numerous outages and unstable connections. This meant that every time his connection was lost, he was disconnected from critically ill individuals who needed his help.

“I see critically ill patients with neurological issues. It’s not like working in an emergency room. In telemedicine if your internet connection goes out it’s like shutting the doors on your patients,” stated Mrelashvili.

Fast response was provided. This meant that the entire sales process, from inquiry to closing, and to installation, took only three days.

The BetterMed solution uses Expedition Communications’ Unlimited Business Internet plan as a primary connection. The client selected an upgraded High-Availability 1.2m Antenna to compliment his Next Generation Satellite Modem. This means that the client will reap the benefit of increased reliability by using a larger satellite antenna. The combination of these business-class satellite internet communications tools and technology are what today enable Dr. Mrelashvili to provide life-saving care to his patients via Telemedicine.

“The whole process was a breeze with nice people. Going with Expedition Communications has been the best decision I’ve made. I don’t have to stress about connections getting lost or patients losing life due to bad internet.”

Dr. Mrelashvili
MD, Neurologist