AMD Global Telemedicine is on path to provide health-care to all

CHELMSFORD — When it became evident nearly 20 years ago that the Internet would dramatically change the way the economy works, analysts offered several examples of sectors that would be affected. Among them were retail, banking and real estate.

Few cited medical care. But it’s a nearly billion-dollar business, and a private company nestled inside a brick, multi-tenant building on Route 129 has been progressing along that path for more than 20 years.

“Access to health care, especially specialist diagnosis and treatment, remains a critical problem throughout much of the world,” said Steve Normandin, founder and president of AMD Global Telemedicine Inc. He said his company, which employs about 35 people, provides a solution “that has the potential to dramatically expand access to quality medical care for people all around the globe.”

Normandin also said the concept saves both time and money. He gave the example of a group of workers drilling for oil at sea. Should one suffer an injury on the job, it may be initially unclear whether the necessary medical attention can achieved on-site or whether a helicopter must be dispatched to pick up the injured worker.

“Our equipment can answer that question before sending the $40,000 helicopter out,” Normandin said during a recent interview in his office at 321 Billerica Road.

But it isn’t just isolated situations in which AMD Global Telemedicine’s gear can be helpful. A trio of employees demonstrated for The Sun on-site how the technology works in the case of a patient visiting with his doctor, who is in a remote location. A nurse or medical assistant is on-site with the patient — it could be at work, school or even home — and takes instructions from the doctor, who appears on video on a telemedicine cart. Paperwork can be emailed back and forth, and the company’s AGNES Interactive software enables the doctor to “examine” the patient via video conference.

Vice President of Global Sales Dan McCafferty, one of the three AMD employees in on the presentation, said the technology can be helpful to the elderly, who may be home-bound, or for busy families.

“It’s beneficial for routine appointments for the elderly, who may have trouble getting out or who rely on family members and others for rides,” McCaffery explained. “It also works when students have medical issues at school. Do parents need to come pick them up and bring them to the hospital? We can find out ahead of time whether that’s necessary.”

John Linkous, president of the American Telemedicine Association, said several current trends favor telemedicine, including an aging population, increased availability of broadband and “health transformation,” the term he uses for the passing of the federal Affordable Care Act.

“AMD is well-suited to take advantage of these things,” Linkous said.

Normandin and McCafferty pointed out that despite its small size, AMD Global Telemedicine has wide reach. It has won contracts to provide service in Greenland, an autonomous island country within the kingdom of Denmark that’s three times the size of Texas but has just 56,000 people. Nearly a quarter of them are at least 60 miles from a health center.

While each of Greenland’s 16 health centers can handle minor surgeries and common treatment in internal medicine, they are unable to provide services for more complicated cases. In the past, people who appeared to be afflicted with more complicated illnesses had to be referred to a hospital in the capital city of Nuuk or to a specialist in Denmark, which is in mainland Europe.

But now, with telemedicine carts available in remote areas “many of those trips can be eliminated, saving time and money,” McCafferty said. “All you need is a browser.”

Normandin, a former Digital Equipment Corp. employee who always had his eye on entrepreneurship, said AMD also recently sold 300 units to Bolivia, a developing South American country whose mountainous terrain makes it difficult for travel.

AMD makes several telemedicine products at its Chelmsford headquarters, including its our telemedicine carts — the IMEDS II, Telemed ED, Clinical Assist and Portable Teleclinic. The Clinical Assist, which was used in the company’s presentation, runs for about $30,000, according to McCafferty.

The company partners with JACO Inc., a contract manufacturer in Franklin, thus ensuring that all work is done within the state.

AMD also offers AGNES Interactive, a Web-based software that enables remote health-care providers to capture and share medical data, exchange documents and medical images in real time, and participate in a live video conference.

Normandin declined to disclose the company’s revenues, but did say they grew more than 50 percent last year.

That kind of growth is not unusual for the industry, according to Linkous, who has led the ATA since its inception in 1993, although he did say the size of the market can be tough to track.

“It depends on how it is measured,” he said. “Telemedicine is increasingly integrated into general health care, so you’ve got equipment, the effect on the physicians themselves and the telecommunications. There’s different ways of measuring it.

“It’s certainly in the hundreds of millions, and probably approaching a billion worldwide. And in terms of total patients, I’d say it’s doubling every three years or so. And there’s tremendous investment flowing into the market right now, on the part of venture capitalists.”

Linkous said the big players in telemedicine are the big players in health care.

“Every large hospital is integrating telemedicine as part of their care offerings,” he said.

Baystate Health in Springfield is a customer highlighted on AMD’s website. The hospital links physicians at its flagship facility, Baystate Medical Center, with patients and physicians at more rural affiliated sites. Some of the types of care being utilized include critical care for ICU consults, inpatient and outpatient neurology and infectious disease.

“Before we implemented telemedicine, I would drive two hours roundtrip see three patients a month at Mary Lane Hospital (in Ware),” one doctor, Stuart Anfang, said in a statement on AMD’s website. “There were frequently no-shows, so it was not the best use of my time.

But now, “I can see those patients via telemedicine while remaining productive in my Springfield office and my patients are very satisfied with the telemedicine appointments.”

Follow Dan O’Brien on Twitter @dobrien_thesun.