Upper Peninsula Telehealth Network of Michigan

Equipment and Transmission

Videoconferencing Equipment

Marquette General Health System is the hub of the Upper Peninsula Telehealth Network (UPTN), a region-wide videoconferencing network. MGHS currently holds an Polycom RMX 2000 and Polycom MGC-100 multipoint conferencing unit (MCU/bridge) with the capability of conferencing 48 sites simultaneously, with real time interactive audio and video. The MGC-100 has both ISDN and Internet Protocol (IP) capabilities, and is accessible to the wide area data network and the publicly switched ISDN networks. The bridge also functions as a gateway between IP and ISDN sites. The bridge can make outbound and receive inbound calls worldwide.

Terminal equipment at MGHS includes Polycom Viewstation's, Polycom VSX 7000's, Polycom HDX 8000's, Polycom HDX 4000's, Polycom VSX 3000's, Polycom PVX desktop systems and Tandberg mobile units.

Spoke sites encompass the entire geographical region, and include independent hospitals, rural health clinics, Native American tribal health centers, and health care administrative sites. Thirty-eight sites are members of the network; ten of which are Critical Access Hospitals. Terminal equipment at the distant sites varies and includes Polycom Viewstation's, Polycom VSX 7000's, Polycom HDX 7000's, Polycom HDX 8000's, Polycom QDX 6000, Polycom HDX 6000, Lifesize equipment, Polycom HDX 4000's, Polycom VSX 3000's, Polycom PVX desktop systems, Polycom V700,  Polycom VSX 4000's, Tandberg mobile units and Via Video desktop systems. All systems are used interchangeably for health professional education, administrative meetings, community health education, and clinical telehealth encounters.

Peripheral/ancillary equipment includes document cameras, computer mediator-scan converters, microscope, American Telecare trans-telephonic stethoscopes, American Medical Devices hand held patient exam cameras, and a digital camera.

Transmission Modalities and Bandwidth

UPTN sites are 768k IP capable. The MCU/bridge has three Prime rate ISDN circuits attached, with aggregated bandwidth capacity of 69 B channels.