Office for the Advancement of Telehealth Telehealth Network Grant Programs Monthly e-Blast - April 2022

Program-Specific Updates

Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) National Telehealth Conference & Grantee Meeting  Expanding and Improving Access Through Telehealth    May 16-18, 2022   Please mark your calendars and save the date for the upcoming annual OAT National Telehealth Conference and Grantee Meeting. This year’s meeting will take place Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (May 16-18, 2022), and will include both a national meeting for all telehealth stakeholders as well as a grantee meeting. The anticipated timeframe for the conference is as follows:  National Telehealth Conference   May 16, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET  May 17, 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET  OAT Grantee Meeting  May 17, 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET  May 18, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET  To register for the OAT Grantee Meeting, please click here. You may register 3 to 5 individuals from your OAT-funded initiative to attend the meeting. If you would like to request registering additional people, please reach out to your OAT Project Officer. Registration closes on Friday, May 13, 2022.   Stay tuned! Separate registration will be forthcoming soon for the National Telehealth Conference.   If you have any questions, please reach out to your OAT Project Officer.

Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP)  Webinar: Recording and Slides Available!   The recording and slides from the March 7 webinar, Year 1 Performance Improvement Measurement System (PIMS) Analysis Report: Summary and Findings, are accessible via the grantee site for the TNGP program here. Feel free to share with other staff or partners that were unable to attend.    This webinar was presented in conjunction with the release of the Year 1 PIMS Analysis Report that provides an aggregate snapshot of the TNGP program using baseline and year 1 data covering the period September 1, 2020 – August 31, 2021. You may download a copy of the full report here.    Community of Practice Groups  The following TNGP group calls are coming up in April. If you have any questions or are interested in joining one, please reach out to your Technical Assistance Provider.   Behavioral Health: Tuesday, April 12 from 3-4 p.m. ET  EMS: Thursday, April 14 from 3-4 p.m. ET

Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Program (EB TNP)  Webinar: Recording and Slides Available!   The recording and slides from the March 1 webinar, Building a Successful Direct-to-Consumer Telehealth Program: Experiences and Lessons Learned from the Field, are accessible via the grantee site for the EB TNP program here. Feel free to share them with other staff or partners that were unable to attend.     Community of Practice Groups  The next round of EB TNP group calls will be coming up again in May. Please stay tuned for calendar invites for those groups that you are already participating in. The three groups are: Behavioral Health, Direct-to-Consumer Telehealth, and Data & Evaluation. If you are interested in joining a group, please reach out to the facilitator for the EB TNP groups, Sherrie Williams at swilliamslcsw@gmail.com.

Resources, News, and Other Updates

Critical Access Hospital Telehealth Guide  This guide provides practical guidance on implementing and sustaining telehealth to optimize health care delivery, expand access, and enhance care coordination. Additionally, the guide keeps the patient and community at the forefront. The guide primarily focuses on Medicare outpatient telehealth services but includes Medicaid coverage and remote services that may not strictly be considered telehealth. The guide was prepared by the National Rural Health Resource Center and the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center. Click here to access the guide.     Telehealth for Federal Qualified Health Centers & Rural Health Clinics Video Series   The videos listed below were designed to provide educational content for Federal Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics to assist with their telehealth implementation. The content is also useful for other types of providers and organizations. Each session is presented by Kathy Cook from ADK Health Solutions LLC.     Accessing Clinical Services Needs: Telehealth Readiness: Includes information on why conducting a telehealth readiness assessment is important, organizational stakeholders, key focus areas to consider and assess, and analysis of results and next steps.  Telehealth Marketing & Patient Engagement: Includes information on the goals of a telehealth marketing plan, developing a simple and effective marketing plan, and building patient trust.  Process Improvement and Telehealth Program Evaluation: Measuring Outcomes and Indicators of Success: Includes information on why program and performance monitoring are important, the difference between program evaluation and quality improvement, and key focus areas to consider and access.  Telehealth Has Played an Outsized Role Meeting Mental Health Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic  This brief recently published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with Epic Research, highlights the increase in telehealth visits for outpatient mental health and substance use services. The analysis examines data from more than 126 million patients from hospitals and clinics across the nation. It also examines variations in telehealth use by age, gender, and diagnosis. Click here to access the brief.   FCC Requests Comments on Promoting Telehealth in Rural America – Respond by April 14. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeks comment on revisions to its initiatives to fund access to broadband and telecommunication services for rural health care providers. FCC proposes to modify the way the internal funding cap applies to upfront costs and multi-year commitments in the Healthcare Connect Fund Program, and to streamline the invoice process in the Telecommunications Program. The rule also seeks comment on ways to further increase the speed of funding commitments.

Upcoming Events

NCTRC Webinar – Innovation & Integration of Telehealth in Population Health   April 22, 2022, 11:00 a.m. PT   Please join the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers as they host a webinar on innovation and integration of telehealth into population health. The presentation will discuss how health organizations are meeting the needs of the growing population and patient expectations by harnessing the power of technology to capture and analyze new data on patients, autonomously make decisions to intervene, and interacting with patients.   Register

American Telemedicine Association 2022 Annual Conference & Expo     May 1-3, 2022 | Boston, Massachusetts  Please join the American Telemedicine Association for the 2022 annual conference and expo. The conference and expo will explore the telehealth landscape and examine what will be essential to establish telehealth as a permanent modality in care delivery. Additionally, the conference will showcase various practical applications of telehealth and attendees will be able to participate in hands-on workshops.  Register

This digest is brought to you by the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT)  and the Telehealth Network Programs Technical Assistance Team.