This quarterly communication, for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) and Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Program (EB TNP) grantees, is brought to you by the technical assistance team of the Georgia Health Policy Center and CSI Solutions. |
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The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Tearsanee Davis, D.N.P., director of clinical and advanced practice operations at UMMC’s Center for Telehealth, about how the Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Program grant will be used to expand telemedicine services for maternal and child health care in eight counties designated as health professional shortage areas.
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The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Priscilla Barnes, Ph.D., Jon Agley, Ph.D., and Amy Todd, R.N., all from Indiana University, Bloomington’s School of Public Health, about how telehealth is being used to address the growing need for behavioral health care in rural, southern Indiana.
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Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT)
2022 Partnership Meeting: Expanding and Improving Access Through Telehealth
May 16-18, 2022
Please mark your calendars and save-the-date for the upcoming annual OAT Partnership Meeting. This year’s annual meeting will take place Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (May 16-18, 2022). The theme this year is Expanding and Improving Access Through Telehealth.
Registration and additional information will be shared in the coming weeks. If you have any questions, please reach out to your OAT Project Officer.
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Telehealth Landscape Analysis Report: Tele-Behavioral Health
Stay tuned for the upcoming release of the next report in our semi-annual landscape analysis reports that look at the health care environment and explore current policies, factors, trends, innovations, and resources relevant to telehealth initiatives. The next report is focused on telebehavioral health and will include a focus on COVID-19 impacts; behavioral health issues nationally, including disparities, trends and themes; what is next on the horizon in telebehavioral health; evidence-based and promising models of care; and resources.
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Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP)
Webinar – Year 1 Performance Improvement Measurement System Analysis Report: Summary and Findings
March 7, 2022; 2:00–3:00 p.m. ET
Please join us for our next TNGP grantee webinar. We will share an overview of the recently completed Performance Improvement Measurement System (PIMS) Analysis Report that provides an aggregate snapshot of the TNGP program using baseline and year 1 data covering the period September 1, 2020 through August 31, 2021. This report will provide a snapshot of the TNGP cohort, highlight key measures and findings, and share recommendations and implications. Additionally, this webinar will highlight some tips and practices related to the effective use of PIMS and other data from other grant-funded initiatives.
To register for this webinar, please follow the link in the original email announcement or by clicking on this link.
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Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Program (EB TNP)
Webinar: Recording and Slides Available!
The recording and slides from our March 1 webinar, Building a Successful Direct-to-Consumer Telehealth Program: Experiences and Lessons Learned from the Field, will be accessible via our grantee site for the EB TNP program here. Feel free to share them along with other staff or partners that were unable to attend.
EB TNP Group Listserv
We are pleased to announce the creation of a listserv for the EB TNP program. This listserv will be used by OAT and the TA Team to share timely updates, information, and resources that might be of interest to the grant cohort. Grantees will also be able to post to the listserv to ask a question or share a resource or other information with their peers. Be on the lookout in the next week for an email from the listserve –eb_tnp_grantees@listserv.gsu.edu – with additional information.
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The slower pace of growth for broadband internet access has had a cascading effect on more rural areas causing slower growth and creating barriers to access the world wide web of information. This article examines Jones County, a rural county in eastern North Carolina, as an example of how to grow people where they live and grant internet access to rural citizens. The article also examines growing the rural workforce, improving rural health, and improved telemedicine. The full article can be accessed here.
Emergency telehealth has been used to improve access of patients residing in rural and remote areas to specialist care in the hope of mitigating the significant health disparities that they experience. To date, there has been limited evaluation of the influence of contextual factors such as clinical area and acuity of presentation on these findings on the effectiveness of emergency telehealth in clinical practice. This systematic review examined the outcome measures used in studying the effectiveness of telehealth in rural and remote emergency departments and analyzed the clinical context in which these outcome measures were used and interpreted. The full article can be accessed here.
Rural patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) may experience poor glycemic control due to limited access to specialty care and self-management support. Telehealth can facilitate delivery of comprehensive T2D care to rural patients, but implementation in clinical practice is challenging. This article examines the implementation of Advanced Comprehensive Diabetes Care (ACDC), an evidence-based, comprehensive telehealth intervention for clinic-refractory, uncontrolled T2D. The study found that ACDC produced sustained improvements in glycemic control in a previously refractory population.
The full article can be accessed here.
There is potential for coordinated, multidisciplinary telehealth to help connect people with Parkinson disease (PD) in rural areas to PD specialists. This study tested the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a coordinated telehealth program, consisting of speech therapy, physiotherapy, and pharmaceutical care, for people with PD living in rural U.S. communities and found positive effects. The full article can be accessed here.
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RESOURCES, NEW AND OTHER UPDATES |
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The United States Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released new findings on Medicare telehealth use that includes rural versus urban comparisons. ASPE also released a companion brief that examines state Medicaid telehealth coverage and policies before and after the pandemic. Click here to access the brief.
Heartland Telehealth Resource Center created a document that summarizes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s State Medicaid & Children's Health Insurance Program Telehealth Toolkit supplement document. Heartland’s summary assists organizations adopting and implementing telehealth by highlighting important categories for frequently asked questions in the original document (i.e., financial flexibilities, workforce flexibilities, T-MSIS Coding Guidance) as well as providing a list of new resources. Additionally, the document spotlights six frequently asked questions. Click here to access the updated summary.
The Southwest Telehealth Resource Center created a continuous quality improvement worksheet. The worksheet is perfect for organizations working on quality improvement projects and guides users through an organized strategy to approach telehealth and other opportunities to improve. Click here to access the project form.
The Federation of State Medical Boards updated their state-by-state list with brief descriptions of changes in licensure policy for telehealth professionals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The list also includes links to relevant official declarations and press releases. Click here to access the list.
The California Telehealth Resource Center released the 2021 edition of their remote patient monitoring toolkit. The toolkit provides an introduction and overview of remote patient monitoring as well as guides organizations on how to build their team. Additionally, the toolkit assists organizations with assessing, planning, testing, and growing their remote patient monitoring program. Click here to access the toolkit.
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March 22-23, 2022 | Virtual
Please join mHealth Intelligence as they host a virtual summit on creating a hybrid health care strategy that integrates in-person care delivery with telehealth. The summit will discuss telehealth design, development, and implementation, and examine policies and reimbursement guidelines. Attendees will also hear from health systems who have already launched hybrid programs.
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March 26, 2022 | 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. MT
Please join the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network as they host a forum on a variety of topics related to successes and challenges around using technology to offer clinical peer recovery services via digital technologies.
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March 29, 2022 | 2:00 p.m. Indiana (East)
Please join the Upper Midwest Telehealth Resource Center as they host a webinar on addressing telehealth barriers for people living with disabilities. The webinar will define “access” and “accessibility” and address the impact of telehealth on people with disabilities both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Attendees will also learn about the unique social, economic, and environmental disadvantages people with disabilities face.
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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.
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May 1-3, 2022 | Boston, Massachusetts
Please join the American Telehealth 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.
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