Zoom Meeting ID: 948 861 542

Dr. Freedman is a pulmonary/sleep medicine/critical care physician and Wyoming telehealth provider who has been in private practice since 1985. He is also an active attendee of the Wyoming Telehealth Consortium.

Dr. Freedman: I first learned about telehealth in 2012 when I was investigating other options to change the direction of my professional activities. I had come to a point of dissatisfaction with traditional practice that involved running back and forth between the hospital and the office. I had literally trolled the internet looking for ICU coverage jobs when I accidentally fell into something called telemedicine.

Dr. Freedman: My advice to both patients and providers is to stop comparing telehealth to live encounters. Telehealth does not replace the live interaction. It augments the doctor patient relationship. It is important to know the limits of telehealth as to what can and cannot be done. But it is important to know strength of telehealth to expedite and enhance the doctor patient relationship. It is the modern reinvention of the house call in many cases.

The Maternal and Child Health Unit in the Wyoming Department of Health is partnering with the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities to launch an ECHO learning community (What is ECHO?) focused on best practices in using and disseminating Bright Futures Guidelines. We are looking for individuals who are interested in guiding and supporting this learning collaborative!

Bright Futures is a national health promotion and prevention initiative, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported, in part, by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration​, Maternal and Child Health Bureau​. The Bright Futures Guidelines provide theory-based and evidence-driven guidance for all preventive care screenings and well-child visits.

Covered health care providers and health plans can use remote communication technologies to provide audio-only telehealth services when such communications are conducted in a manner that is consistent with the applicable requirements. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) developed this guidance to help covered entities understand how they can use remote communication technologies for audio-only telehealth.

The University of Wyoming Department of Psychology is conducting a research study, offering telehealth trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) at no cost for autistic youth/youth with autism between the ages of 10 and 17. The study will take place entirely virtually through HIPAA-secure Zoom videoconferencing, so families throughout Wyoming are eligible to participate. Involvement would consist of 12 weekly sessions of TF-CBT in addition to an initial assessment, and two follow-up assessments after the intervention. All visits will be over Zoom, and there will be no in-person contact. Families may be compensated up to $400 for full participation in the study. 

Navigating telehealth policy between the federal and state levels can be confusing. The Center on Connected Health Policy recently created this helpful diagram to help ease the confusion around different levels of government policy making.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/371954998

Email: Wy-telehealth@uwyo.edu

Website: wyomingtelehealth.org