This quarterly communication, for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) grantees, is brought to you by the technical assistance team of the Georgia Health Policy Center and CSI Solutions.
GRANTEE SPOTLIGHTS
Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu is Hawaii’s only comprehensive stroke center. Hawaii is a chain of eight islands spread over 500 miles. On the island of Oahu (home of Honolulu), the drive times to get a patient to the stroke center can take an hour and a half, while inter-island transfers can take four hours. 
 
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Matthew Koenig, M.D., medical director of telehealth at Queen's Medical Center, about designing a telestroke service during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The Allegheny Health Network (AHN) is working to improve access to emergency care specialists in rural areas of Pennsylvania and western New York by expanding its telehealth network to include emergency stroke and critical care services through partnerships with rural hospital emergency departments and local emergency medical services. 

The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Jack Protetch, senior program manager for telehealth at the Allegheny Health Network about implementation. 
PROGRAM-SPECIFIC UPDATES
This is the final edition of The Telehealth Quarterly Digest for the first year of your TNGP grant. The technical assistance (TA) team has enjoyed working with you in support of your telehealth initiatives and look forward to our continued work together as we kick off grant Year 2. For the upcoming year, we will also be welcoming a new cohort of Office for the Advancement of Telehealth grantees for the Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Program (EB THNP).  

Stay tuned for more updates and announcements for the upcoming grant year related to technical assistance. In the upcoming year, we will continue to provide support through regular calls with your TA provider and project officer, site visit opportunities, webinars, quarterly community of practice calls, and other resources. We look forward to an exciting year ahead with you! 

August TNGP Webinars: Recording and Slides Available!  
The slides and recordings from both of the August TNGP webinars are posted to the grantee website. The following webinars are available: 

  • Implementation Science as Applied to Telehealth Network Programs - Aug.10
  • Year 1 Performance Improvement Measurement System (PIMS) Webinar - Aug.18

You may find the materials directly on the TNGP page. Feel free to share with any key staff or partners that were not able to attend.   

Office for the Advancement of Telehealth All Programs Virtual Meeting  
A friendly reminder, that all session recordings and slides are available on the Whova conference website for 90 days following the meeting. These same materials are also posted to and available on the TNGP grantee site. 

Year 1 Performance Improvement Measurement System Reporting 
Year 1 PIMS reporting for all TNGP grantees opens on September 1, 2021 and will remain open until October 15, 2021. All grantees will report on data covering the full Year 1 of the project period (September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021). If you have any questions about PIMS reporting, please reach out to your Office for the Advancement of Telehealth project officer. 
ARTICLES
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented emergency departments (EDs) with many challenges. Many EDs have leveraged telehealth to innovatively address the acute care needs of patients. This comprehensive review describes the landscape of telehealth initiatives in emergency care used during the pandemic. The full article can be accessed here. 

Telehealth has the potential to help individuals in rural areas overcome geographical barriers to improve access to care, particularly in critical access hospitals. This study aims to understand the factors that influenced telehealth uptake and use in eight frontier critical access hospitals in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota. This work was conducted as part of a larger evaluation of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services–funded demonstration program to expand cost-based reimbursement for services for Medicare beneficiaries. The full article can be accessed here. 

This study aimed to (a) examine rates of telemedicine use among rural providers, (b) determine whether changes in telehealth use in this group were associated with provider confidence and perceived usefulness of technology, (c) compare these providers’ perceptions of the “usefulness” of technology prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (d) examine barriers to implementation and use of telehealth within a rural sample. The full article can be accessed here. 

The objective of this study was to examine whether delivering technology-assisted case management (TACM) with medication titration by nurses under physician supervision is cost effective compared with usual care among low-income rural adults with type 2 diabetes. The authors found that a 1% decrease in HbA1c can be obtained with the TACM intervention at an approximate cost of $6,300, making it a cost-effective option for treating vulnerable populations of adults with type 2 diabetes. The full articled can be accessed here. 
RESOURCES, NEW AND OTHER UPDATES
The California Telehealth Resource Center recently developed a telehealth course finder. The course finder provides users with a list of telehealth-related unbiased trainings and educational resources. The tool encompasses a range of telehealth-related topics (telestroke, telemental health, etc.) for health care providers, telehealth coordinators, school-based health providers, and community health workers. 
Click here to access the resource.  

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death among Americans. Using telehealth for chronic disease management is a focus area for many grantees. This white paper, shares insight into leveraging virtual solutions to better address heart health, including utilizing remote patient monitoring for cardiovascular disease management. The paper also highlights how virtual care solutions can drive better health outcomes for people living with cardiovascular disease. Click here to access the white paper. 
 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Security for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Healthy Policy, recently released a brief highlighting state Medicaid telehealth policy before and during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The authors reviewed CMS telehealth policies and conducted a literature search on Medicaid telehealth policies before and during the pandemic. Their findings are provided in this brief. Click here to access the brief.  

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has been used for years as a tool for providers to gather data, monitor, and facilitate care for their patients. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the implementation of RPM programs. Produced by Mozzaz, this report details the root of RPM and discusses the future of RPM. The report also guides readers on mapping out a RPM strategy, best practices for success, and how to plan for sustainability and scalability. Click here to access the report.  
UPCOMING EVENTS 

Sept. 13, 2021, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. PT 
Please join the University of Arizona’s Telemedicine program as they host a conference on developing a telemedicine program. Topics will include telecommunications and infrastructure development, distance education, equipment demonstrations, evaluation, and more. Attendees will also learn about payment policies for telehealth services reimbursement.  

Sept. 17, 2021, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PT 
Please join the Center for Connected Health Policy as they host a webinar highlighting current and future Medicaid policy around audio-only as a modality to deliver health care services. Panelist will share what their Medicaid programs may decide or have decided to do if temporary audio-only policies should be made permanent. 
  

Sept. 23-24, 2021 
Manchester, New Hampshire  

Please join the Northeast Telehealth Resource Center as they host their 7th annual Northeast Regional Telehealth Conference. During this two-day conference, attendees will have the opportunity to learn telehealth best practices and innovations, network, and identify opportunities to advance telehealth. 


  

Oct. 12-14, 2021, 11:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. ET 
Please join the National Institutes of Health for their Pathways to Prevention Workshop Program centered on improving rural health through telehealth guided provider-to-provider communication. This three-day event will focus on topics including the uptake of different types of provider-to-provider telehealth in rural areas, strategies that are effective for implementation and sustainability of provider-to-provider telehealth in rural areas, and more. Registration is required for each day you plan to attend.