The telemedicine community brings medical specialists closer to
home, providing people in rural areas with state of the art care
that might not otherwise be available.
SACRAMENTO–On Feburary 22, 2012 the California Senate Select
Committee on Autism & Related Disorders will hold an
informational hearing. The focus of the hearing is “Adapting
‘Digital Age’ Innovations to Expand Access and to Improve
Services for Individuals with ASD.”
The hearing will be held at 10am in The State Capitol Building,
Room 3191.
When patients walk into a NowClinic at any one of nine
Detroit-area Rite Aid pharmacies, they can choose among multiple
physicians to see about what’s ailing them. Not see in person.
See on a computer monitor.
What’s going on at these Rite Aids is a merger of multiple trends
focused on providing more convenience to patients than,
presumably, a physician’s office can deliver. Neither
telemedicine nor retail clinics are new — but combining them is.
WASHINGTON–Sen. Tom Udall (D-Utah) anticipates introducing a
bill this spring to make it easier for physicians to practice
telemedicine in many states instead of applying for a separate
license for each state.
The bill, which is still being drafted, would streamline
licensure portability across state lines, according to Fern
Goodhart, Udall’s legislative assistant.
“Telemedicine is medicine, just practiced virtually,” she said at
a Jan. 31 Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the American
Telemedicine Association (ATA), which advocates for use of remote
medical technologies.
The TRC Webinar Series provides timely information and
demonstrations to support and guide the development of your
telehealth program by experienced telehealth professionals from
the HRSA-designated Telehealth Resource Centers (TRCs).
These webinars are FREE to the public on the 3rd Thursday of each
month.
The TRC Webinar Series provides timely information and
demonstrations to support and guide the development of your
telehealth program by experienced telehealth professionals from
the HRSA-designated Telehealth Resource Centers (TRCs).
These webinars are FREE to the public on the 3rd Thursday of each
month.
The Federally designated Telehealth Resource Centers (TRC) were
designed to assist healthcare organizations, healthcare networks,
and healthcare providers in the implementation of cost-effective
telehealth programs to serve rural and medically underserved
areas and populations.
The TRCs serve as a focal point for advancing effective use of
telehealth technologies in their respective communities and
regions of the nation. Although each Resource Center specializes
in providing services to organizations within their primary
service area, the TRCs are committed to working in a
collaborative effort to share their resources and expertise to
service areas outside of their own regions. There is also one
national TRC that addresses legal and regulatory barriers to the
effective implementation of telehealth technologies.
The Telehealth Resource Centers are supported through the
Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program, which is administered
by the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth in the Office of
Health Information Technology, Health Resources and Services
Administration.
To learn more about the TRCs, you may download a fact sheet or
you may click on the individual contact information listed below.
CTEC, the federally designated Western Regional Telehealth
Resource Center, and the California Telehealth Network (CTN) have
joined forces to create an environment in California where
providers and patient sites can come together to effectively use
and expand telehealth. It is our vision that, together, we
will provide all of the tools that sites need to implement
successful telehealth programs.
The CTN mission is to create a new telecommunications
infrastructure, eventually allowing California’s rural
communities to access a broad range of technology-enhanced
services to improve the quality of health care services
throughout the state. Under the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) Rural Health Care Pilot Program, CTN works to
significantly increase access to acute, primary and preventive
health care in rural America.
In conjunction with CTN, CTEC is working to serve as an expert
resource for telemedicine program development. Serving CTN
patient sites and providers, CTEC offers each member the
following:
Customized telemedicine program services, based on the
provider or patient site’s individual needs
Access to CTEC’s team of national experts
Exclusive access to popular CTEC webinars on educational
topics such as grant writing and program best practices
Member-only access to CTEC products and program materials
Complementary or discounted pricing on CTEC products and
services
We are pleased to unveil our new CTEC website with expanded
functionality and organization. As the Western Regional
Telehealth Resource Center CTEC has a substantial volume of up to
the minute information to assist you with your telehealth
activities. Some new features on the website include:
Search capability throughout the website and search function
in our news archive to help you easily find information
Special heading for developments on funding / reimbursement
and legislative / regulatory
Community section to submit your stories and items of
interest for inclusion in the website
We look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts on the
website. Let us know what content and organization will
help you most.
At CTEC it is our goal to introduce the best telemedicine
providers to patient sites throughout California. We
understand that it is challenging for patient sites to identify
what offerings are available with a premier telehealth
provider. Likewise, we also know that providers often need
assistance connecting with patient sites in need of a skilled
telemedicine partner. That’s where CTEC can help. We
maintain a comprehensive database of all of the Telemedicine
sites and providers in the state which enables us to make
introductions—saving both parties time and money with their
search. We help patient sites select the right telemedicine
provider by identifying key questions such as the provider’s
process for service delivery and available payment options.
We also help top-notch providers locate patient sites that can
use their valuable services.
Whether you are a provider or a patient site, we invite you to
contact the CTEC team today at (877) 590-8144 to get started
connecting.
In an effort to advance the implementation of telehealth
throughout California, we have developed a brief survey that will
be used to create a comprehensive inventory of all California
telehealth programs and staff experiences. The goal of the
survey is to identify the telehealth programs operating in
California and to better understand your thoughts on telehealth
programs; the needs of patient sites, administrators and remote
clinicians as well as any barriers to telehealth program
adoption.
Please take a few minutes to share your insight with us as well
as any challenges you foresee with incorporating telehealth at
your site. If you’ve already launched a telehealth program,
you will love to have data on the number of services you’ve
implemented. This data helps us provide information to
policy makers about how California is using telehealth.
We look forward to receiving your survey. Please click here
to begin: CTEC
Telehealth Survey.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the
CTEC office at (877) 590-8144.
