1. Why do I need vConsult?
2. How does vConsult work?
3. Could you describe the infrastructure of vConsult?
4. How am I notified of a potential consult from a requester?
5. Do I need a dedicated system administrator?
6. Will I receive support from CMTC in addition to training?
7. How is vConsult different from other medical exchanges?

Why do I need vConsult?
If you are interested in expanding your medical consultation practice to a global marketplace and thereby increase your income, then vConsult can help. vConsult allows you to use your medical expertise more efficiently, while building relationships worldwide.

How does vConsult work?
Institutions, such as hospitals, enroll their expert physicians within clinical domains and create a vGroup. Physician requesters with whom the institution has established a business relationship use the system to submit requests for consultation, second-opinion, grand-rounds, or treatment.

The requesting physician, using their vConsult software provided by the institution, submits a medical case query for the most appropriate expert provider to the vConsult network of the particular institution.

vConsult then finds the appropriate expert physician(s) based on information outlining the provider's specialty, case and treatment preferences, disorder specific data requirements, education, training, experience and fees for services. Enterprise accreditation, or the hospital or group's credentials, assure full confidence in both parties before any medical service exchange begins.

After a request is accepted, the requester and service provider schedule, collaborate, exchange data, and deliver and receive the agreed-upon remote medical services. Once a case is completed, invoices are handled through provider-based administrative billing and payment functions.

With vConsult you can:

• Offers a new and profitable service requiring nominal incremental investment
• Increases revenue from access to patient populations outside traditional geography
• Reduces costs associated with traditional process of rendering remote consultations and second-opinions
• Foreign physicians and their hospitals also benefit from efficient access to U.S. medical expertise

Could you describe the infrastructure of vConsult?
vConsult is comprised of functional subsystems, including the vClinic, vGroup, vEnterprise, and vClient.

The vClinic is the desktop environment for the providing physician. This space includes a clinic profiler that details a physician?s unique expertise, special qualifications, practice preferences, types of cases to be treated and overall practice strategy. It uses structured terminology driven interfaces to guarantee consistency and completeness of each specialty, body system, and disorder for which they wish to offer consultation services, and the diagnostic data required before accepting a case. It also provides bi-directional communication with requesting physicians.

The vGroup is a collection of vClinics within a single domain of expertise or "profit center." The vGroup features administrative controls for the group management function. For example, a vGroup could be an assembly of cardiology specialists who work at the same hospital or who have privileges at that hospital.

The vEnterprise is a collection of vGroups within a single business enterprise, such as a hospital. It includes system level administrative controls for intra-enterprise management functions.

A vClient is the requesting physician?s desktop environment used to define and submit cases for consultation. It uses structured terminology driven interfaces to guarantee consistency and completeness of case description, and provides bi-directional communication with providing physicians.

How am I notified of a potential consult from a requester?
When a case comes in, you will be notified via pager, cell phone, fax, or e-mail.

Do I need a dedicated system administrator?
You will be part of a larger vGroup with a business manager/administrator who implements the business relationship aspects with multiple requesters. This person will also be involved in defining the expertise offering, and working with the marketing group to promote this expertise to the target market.

Will I receive support from CMTC in addition to training?
Yes, the Provider group (department, group, etc.) implementing vConsult will receive support from us.

How is vConsult different from other medical exchanges?
vConsult creates a private medical exchange between the vGroup and its requesters. It assures privacy and security for all data that is exchanged and is HIPPA compliant.

It provides an e-commerce platform for the exposure and exchange of medical expertise for remote second opinions and consultations worldwide. Because its core technology architecture is terminology driven, vConsult ensures consistent presentation of both the medical case, as well as the accuracy of the match algorithms that find the appropriate providers on the participating institution's network.

These technological capabilities provide for medical workflow improvements that eliminate the inefficiencies and time burdens of current medical processes. The result is better medical care and the reduction of medical errors.

vConsult is a unique software platform that provides a structured system of medical expertise exchange, expedited consultations, improved medical care, and expanded business opportunities. It is NOT a platform for supply and procurement, records management or data warehousing, or a directory service.