American Telemedicine Association 2010 ... Conference Wrap-up

Colleagues,

This year's ATA conference in San Antonio, 16-18 May 2010, was dynamic and unprecedented in scope, attendance and exhibits. The meeting featured 250 peer-reviewed presentations, 120 peer-reviewed posters, 8 Industry Executive Roundtables, 8 Pre-Meeting Certificate Courses, and the exposition hall featured over 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, with more than 200 exhibitors displaying in excess of 1,000 products and services. There were over 100 new companies represented in the exhibit hall.

Also, congratulations for the well deserved recognition received during the conference to MedTech-IQ members: Ronald Weinstein , Anne Burdick, Steve Normadine, Scott Simmons, and Charles Doarn.

For those who were unable to attend, please find below highlight extracts with hyperlinks to additional information from the daily digests prepared by the ATA staff on Sunday, 16 May 2010 and Monday, 17 May 2010.

Highlights from Tuesday, 18 May will be transmitted in a separate message.

Overall, there was a sense that the ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) funding, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC HIT) programs, i.e., Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), Regional Extension Extension Center (RECs), Beacon Communities, Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive payments; and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) National Broadband Strategy, and Universal Services Fund reform efforts, were spurring an inflection point for telemedicine going forward.

Much like the HIMSS conference earlier this year in Atlanta, this meeting felt like a turning point. Away from discussions trying to justify the use of technology and towards a commitment to use the technologies embodied within the term telemedicine. This could not have been stated more forcefully than by one of the keynote speakers for the conference, Aneesh Chopra, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, who spoke on behalf of White House policy in regards to telemedicine.

Let me know if you agree with my assessment, disagree, or just think I am crazy. Inquiring minds want to know.

ENJOY!

CC
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American Telemedicine Association Highlights:

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Opening Plenary

The Plenary began with Karen Rheuban, MD, President of the American Telemedicine Association speaking briefly about her tenure as President of the association and
the rapid growth of telemedicine. Bernard Harris, Jr., MD, MBA, Vice President of ATA
and ATA2010 Program Chair provided a review of the meeting’s educational program. He was followed by keynote speaker Major General James K. Gilman, Commanding General,

U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and Fort Detrick who focused his
comments on the use of telemedicine and advanced medical technologies to
support soldiers.

The U.S. Army Thurman Award for excellence in military telemedicine was presented to

COL Hon Pak, Chief Medical Information Officer of U.S. Army Medical Department.

The plenary concluded with Ronald Weinstein, MD, Director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program being named as a new President Emeritus of the American Telemedicine Association.

Other Annual Awards were presented to:

ATA President’s Award: Individual			Thomas S. Nesbitt, MD, MPH

ATA President’s Award: Institutional			ORBIS Cyber-Sight

ATA President’s Award: Innovation			Corventis AVIVO & Myca Health

ATA Industry Council Leadership Award			Ron Emerson, RN, BSN

ATA Special Interest Group (SIG) & Chapter Achievement Award			Pediatric Telehealth SIG

ATA Student Paper Award Nominees			Deborah Seale, BA, MA, PhD Katie Armstrong, H.BSc Reema Nain, MS-MIS

Telemedicine & e-Health Journal Award Supported by			"Economic Evaluation of Telemedicine: Review of the Literature and Research Guidelines for Benefit–Cost Analysis" María E. Dávalos, MA Michael T. French, PhD Anne E. Burdick, MD, MPH Scott C. Simmons, MS

Rashid Bashshur, PhD, President Emeritus of ATA, presented the 2010 Class of Telemedicine Fellows. They included:

Bonnie P. Britton, MSN, RN
Joseph D'Iorio
Charles R. Doarn, MBA

The ATA Industry Council, President's Circle Members named five new individuals to their Executive Committee:

Sunil Hazaray, President & CEO, Bayer Health
Joel Barthelemy, Managing Director, Global Media
Tom Woteki, PhD, Director, Healthcare Solutions, Cisco
Dan Constantino, President, Cardiocom
Steve Normandin, President, AMD Global Telemedicine

The Institutional Council, named four new leaders for the new Institutional Council Executive Committee:

Joe Tracy, MS, Vice President - Telehealth Services, Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network
Scott Simmons, MS, Director of Telehealth, University of Miami Telehealth
Curtis Lowery, MD, Medical Director, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences -
ANGELS Program
Alexander Vo, PhD, University of Texas Medical Branch

The International Telemedicine Forum representing over 35 countries discussed issues related to cross-border telehealth. The meeting focused specifically on the use of mHealth in developing nations and the role of telemedicine in emergency response and disaster situations.

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Highlights: Monday, 17 May 2010

Monday's peer-reviewed telemedicine educational sessions with links to abstracts included:

Clinical Services: General

•  International eCritical Care
•  Telerehabilitation Applications
•  Telemedicine Use in Transplant Surgery
•  Ocular Health Specific Electronic Health Records
•  Ocular Telehealth for Diabetic Retinopathy

Clinical Services: Telemental Health

•  Successful Integration of Telemental Health: From Store and Forward...
•  Telemental Health in the VA: A National Model of Expansion and Outc...
•  Training the Next Generation of Psychiatrists on Telemedicine to Im...
•  Telemental Healthcare in Clinical Unsupervised Settings
•  Advancing TBI and PTSD Diagnosis, Treatment and Management Through ...

Emergency & Disaster Response

•  Disaster Preparedness: Enhancing Surge Capacit and Partnership Effort
•  The Role of the Tele-ICU in Mass Casualty and Emergency Preparedness
•  Telehealth's Pivotal Integration in Disaster Response
•  Remote Support for Emergency Departments and Trauma Care
•  Leveraging Telemedicine Technology for Response to Public Health Em...

Operations, Business & Finance

•  Innovative Concepts and Business Models for Telehealth
•  Successful Demonstrations of DOD Telementoring and Teleconsulting f...
•  Quantifying Value: Cost Benefit in Telehealth
•  Surgical Telementoring Pilot Project in the Military
•  Management Tools for Telehealth
•  Unique Approaches in Implementing Telemedicine Services
•  Mainstreaming Telemedicine to Address Critical Shortages in Inpatie...
•  Making the Connection: Improving the Reach of Telemedicine
•  Sustainable Telemedicine in Respource Limited Settings: How can we ...
•  The Role of Compliance in Telehealth Adoption

Policy

•  Policy Initiatives Attacking Stroke
•  Ocular Telehealth Reimbursement
•  New Developments in Government Telehealth Policy
•  Government Regulatory Issues Facing Telemedicine
•  Universal Service Program's Support for Rural Healthcare

Remote Monitoring, Consumer & Mobile Health

•  Successful Applications of Telemedicinein Medical Home Models
•  Improving Access to Care: Project Outcomes for Home-Based Telemedic...
•  Patient Care Through Mobile Communications
•  Remote Monitoring for Diabetes Management: From Mobile Technologies...
•  Exploring Clinical Evidence in Remote Monitoring Applications

Technology & Telecommunications

•  Using Mobile Devices for Healthcare Monitoring: Promises and Challe...
•  The Development, Deployment and Evaluation of mCare: Mobile Telepho...
•  The Role of Technology in VA Rural Outreach Clinics
•  Expanding a US Army-Wide Tele-TBI Infrastructure Across 14 Time Zon...
•  Medical Simulation At A Distance for Remote Training and Research

Industry Executive Roundtables

The following Industry Executives spoke about the future of telemedicine, from a corporate perspective:

Session 1

•  Randall S. Moore, MD, MBA, CEO, American TeleCare
•  Paul Bromberg, VP and GM, Remote Patient Monitoring, Philips Healthcare Solutions
•  Michael Taylor, Director of Marketing, CareFusion
•  Daniel L. Cosentino, MBA, CEO, President, Cardiocom
•  Matt Sanders, CEO, iMetrikus

Session 2

•  Rick Cnossen, MS, Standards Technology Manager, Intel Corporation
•  Jayant Parthasarathy, Business Manager - eHealth, Nonin Medical
•  Clint McClellan, Senior Director of Market Development, Qualcomm
•  Jim Woodburn, MD, MS, VP & Medical Director, Clinical Initiatives, OptumHealth, UnitedHealth Group

Session 3

•  Dan McCafferty, VP Global Sales & Corporate Development, AMD Global Telemedicine
•  Robert Moore, General Manager - Commercial, Disease Management, GE Healthcare
•  Lance James, CEO, e-Telmed
•  Derek Newell, President and CEO, Robert Bosch Healthcare
•  Nathanial Findlay, CEO, Myca

Session 4

•  Ron Emerson, Global Director of Healthcare, Polycom
•  Linda Branagan, Director of Telemedicine, Medweb
•  Sabina Chiara Coraluppi, Director of Operations, Chorus Call,Inc.
•  Robyn Fulkerson, Director, Sykes Assistance Services Corporation

Session 5

•  Jay Couse, Senior Vice President, Healthcare, Diversinet
•  Michelle Violette, Business Analyst / Relationship Manager, Healthanywhere Inc.
•  David Morrison, Senior Product Manager, LifeSize Communications, a division of Logitech