ATSP Telehealth Conference 2003

We Want Our ROI and We Want It Now:
Re-Examining the Role of Telecommunications in Healthcare

September 16th, 2003
All times are in U.S. Pacific Time

9:00 to 9:10	Introduction and Welcome

9:10 to 9:45	Why Question the Telehealth Industry Status Quo
	Is your telehealth initiative better off now than it was four years ago? It is no secret that the telehealth industry has not achieved the momentum or goals that were envisioned 5 or 10 years ago. Why not? This session will provide a hard look at the current status of the telehealth industry and review areas where telecommunications technologies can be of value to medical clinics and offices everywhere.
	Allan Liebgott, MD; Director, Correctional Care and Telemedicine, Denver Health, Denver, CO

9:45 to 10:45	Annual Report on Public and Private Telehealth Funding and Initiatives
	In this session, speakers will discuss reimbursement strategies for telehealth programs with an emphasis on planning for sustainability. The current state of public and private financial support for telehealth will be covered. Speakers will explore traditional as well as non-traditional sources of funding, including internal revenue sources, government grants, corporate support, public and private insurers, and statewide purchasing groups. Attendees will learn how a broad-based consortium of employers, health plans, providers, state government and others has been formed in Iowa to promote telehealth chronic disease management. Key factors will include measurement of interventions, funding source review and business case development. First phase demonstrations are in diabetes and congestive heart failure.
	Nancy E. Brown-Connolly; Director, Research & Evaluation; Telemedicine Solutions; Ventura, CA
	William Appelgate, PhD, Vice President for Advancement & Planning; Des Moines University, Des Moines, IA

10:45 to 11:30	Annual Report on Key Pieces of Legislation and Regulation
	As telemedicine technology and applications continue to evolve, telemedicine practitioners frequently must face the challenges of an ever-changing regulatory environment. This presentation will highlight some of the recent legislative and regulatory initiatives affecting telemedicine providers, such as developments in Medicare reimbursement, JCAHO standards, HIPAA, licensure laws, and malpractice liability.
	Scott Edelstein, MPA, JD; Partner, McDermott, Will & Emery; Los Angeles, CA

11:30 to Noon	Annual Report on New Telehealth and Internet Technologies and Trends
THIS SESSION IS NOT INCLUDED ON THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS CD-ROM	Remote patient management (RPM) technologies refer to technologies that serve as intermediaries between clinicians and patients to enable remote clinical evaluation and management. This definition covers classical video and store-and-forward telemedicine, as well as other technologies. This talk will cover the classes of RPM technologies, the current environment for RPM, drivers and barriers for their development, and what the future holds for RPM.
	Ravi Nemana, MBA; Senior Advisor , HealthTech

Noon to 12:20	The Economics of Telemedicine
	This session is based on a research study that examined literature regarding the economics of telemedicine to understand why certain programs and applications of telemedicine are more successful and frequently implemented. The speaker will discuss this research and their results, such as that the disparities between those who bear the costs of telemedicine projects are not always aligned with those who benefit from them.
	Sean M. Snaith, PhD; Director, Bureau of Business and Economic Research; University of North Dakota; Grand Forks, ND

12:20 to 12:40	Leveraging Emerging Technologies to Improve ROI for Disease Management
	Multiple consumer and healthcare technologies are promising to revolutionize telehealth and disease management. How valid are these emerging technologies? What's working and what's not? This presentation will discuss conceptual frameworks, case examples, and real life examples. The speaker will provide an overview of current and emerging disease management technologies and will explore their clinical and consumer benefits and how to leverage these technologies to improve ROI.
	Vince Kuraitis, JD, MBA; Founder, Better Health Technologies; Boise, ID

12:40 to 1:00	Telemedicine Strategies for Ergonomics/Human Factors Service and its ROI
	Historically, manufacturing industries and their operations have been plagued by OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) recordable injuries that are related to human factors/ergonomic issues. The purpose of this presentation is to analyze the use of telemedicine in ergonomic occupational assessment/injury treatment and its relation to ROI. The discussion will examine the current paradigm for supplying onsite human factors/ergonomics support and focus on the implementation of telemedicine strategies to provide these services and minimize fiscal impact on businesses.
	John Shober; Environmental Health & Safety Specialist; R.R. Donnelley; Greeley, CO


September 17th, 2003

9:00 to 10:00	Overview of Telehealth Sectors with Clear and Immediate ROI
	If an immediate return on investment (ROI) is what you're looking for in telehealth, then the odds are that your choices will be limited to the following list: Teleradiology Remote Monitoring and Home Health Eligibility Verification Distributed Practice Management Systems Distributed Electronic Health Records In addition, distributed patient education systems may be coming on strong. The purpose of this session is to provide a brief overview of all of these applications for those who may not be familiar with them. In addition, the topics themselves will be placed into context with respect to the average clinician, medical facility, and health system. This roundup is the prelude for the sessions that follow both later today and on Day 3.
	Douglas Perednia, MD; President, Association of Telehealth Service Providers; Portland, OR

10:00 to 10:20	Future Directions in Telehealth
	Dr. Dena Puskin, Director of the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, will give a frank discussion about realistic goals and objectives for achieving sustainability in telemedicine and distance education programs based on her 15 years of experience in the field. She will examine strategies, both immediate and long-term, for maximizing opportunities to obtain sustainability.
	Dena Puskin, ScD; Director, Office for The Advancement of Telehealth, HRSA; Rockville, MD

10:20 to 11:00	Home Telehealth: Successful Strategies for Ensuring Provider Support
	The rate of adoption of telehealth in the home is influenced by a number of factors. This session focuses on the role of the provider in the adoption and implementation of the technology, and on individual and organizational variables that influence provider attitudes toward telehealth.
	James Grigsby, PhD; Associate Professor, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Denver, CO

11:00 to 11:45	A Closer Look at Home Telehealth
	Everyone agrees that home health is an excellent application of telehealth technologies, but it�s still relatively uncommon to see these technologies deployed. So is the ROI there or not? In this session, we�ll take a hard look at the trials and tribulations of moving telehealth into the broader home health market. Using a panel of home care providers, we will explore whether the reality of home telehealth lives up to the hype. Panel members will discuss why (or why not) they�ve implemented telehealth technologies in their programs and they will also explore the economic impact of using telehealth on their respective agencies. They will talk about their different business models and how they are maximizing the return on their individual investments.
	Carol Carew, MBA, RN; CEO, HealthWays / Sunrise County Home Care Services; Lubec, ME

	Bridget Gallagher, RN, MSN; Vice President of Home Care; Jewish Home & Hospice Life Care Services; New York, NY

	Patricia Hilsen, BSN, RN; Lead Care Coordinator, Telehealth Program, Fort Myers VA Outpatient Clinic; Fort Myers, FL

11:45 to Noon	The 2003 Telehealth Awards Ceremony
THIS SESSION IS NOT INCLUDED ON THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS CD-ROM	The ATSP created the Telehealth Awards to recognize and honor those organizations that are actively working to promote excellence in the telehealth industry. Awards will be given in two categories: Healthcare Providers and Vendor Organizations.

Noon to 12:20	Integrating Disease Management and Telemonitoring into Chronic Care: A Solution for Patients, Payors, and Providers
	This session will address innovative care management services and reimbursement strategies that have been developed to support the use of telemonitoring services in the provision of chronically ill individuals. Specifically, lessons from the Veterans Health Administration pilot programs as well as the ACCENT project will be reviewed and discussed. Practical, actionable opportunities for the future -- efforts to further reimbursement and clarify ROI outside of reimbursement -- will be presented.
	Mark Francis, Vice President, Health Hero Network, Mt. View, California

12:20 to 12:40	The British Columbia Tele-Child Development and Rehabilitation Network
	The TeleCDR (Child Development and Rehabilitation) Network began in 2002. Videoconferencing equipment connected British Columbia�s tertiary pediatric rehabilitation centre with 8 community agencies to increase opportunities for professional and client education, clinical consultation and joint planning. The speakers will discuss the challenges they faced during their implementation year as well as future work on network and application expansion.
	David Jordan; Clinical Technician, TeleCDR, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children; Vancouver, BC

	Susan Widera; Program Manager; TeleCDR, Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children; Vancouver, BC

12:40 to 1:00	Telemedicine and the Internet: Quality Principles in the Context of Health Related Websites
	In the past few years, there has been an impressive growth of healthcare related websites. Currently, there are over 20,000 e-health sites as well as hundreds of thousands of individual web pages that address health topics. The ease with which anyone can publish anything on the Internet favors the dissemination of content that may be misleading and in direct opposition to common medical practice. In order to overcome this problem, several entities and organizations, in both Europe and the United States, have proposed sets of principles, codes of conduct, and certifications for e-health information providers to use. The speaker will examine these initiatives and will provide concrete methodologies and principles to assess the quality of health related web sites.
	Sara Fonseca; Communications and Image Advisor; Siemens Medical Solutions; Ilhavo, Portugal


September 18th, 2003

9:00 to 9:20	Telecommunications in the Business of Healthcare
	Telehealth has traditionally dealt with the "front office" functions of medicine: scheduling appointments, gathering clinical data and seeing patients. While these are important, no medical practice can survive without the "back office". The back office submits claims, pays bills, keeps records, and handles those far less visible duties that keep a medical business afloat. The efficiency with which these tasks are handled can easily make the difference between a facility that falters, and one that survives. This session will introduce the concept of telecommunications technologies as key components of efficient back office operations. The ability to generate a rapid return on investment (ROI) makes this approach important for any medical program. The added savings and revenue generated can be used to support both the underlying telecommunications capabilities of any medical enterprise and a wide variety of other telehealth activities.
	Douglas Perednia, MD; President, The Association of Telehealth Service Providers; Portland, OR

9:20 to 10:10	Telecommunications and distributed systems that enhance the efficiency of billing and practice management
	Practice management systems handle billing and scheduling � two of the most important functions in any office. Traditionally sold by either smaller �home grown� companies or large impersonal corporations, these programs are often characterized by high purchase costs, archaic code, and poor support. For many practices, accessing centrally-administered practice management services via the Internet has become a life-saving alternative. Often offered by businesses specializing in billing and collections, these Internet systems can reduce both costs and administrative hassles. This session will explain how these services are provided remotely, examine their financial impact, and share some experiences of providers and recipients alike.
	Adrian Velasquez, President; Fi-Med Management, Inc.

10:10 to 11:00	Telecommunications and distributed systems for creating, maintaining, and sharing medical record data
	Electronic health records (EMRs or EHRs) are among the most frustrating medical technologies ever devised. Widely heralded as �the future of medicine�, they have remained complex, expensive, and little-used for years. Only 5-10% of physicians use EHRs in their outpatient practices, and they are typically those in large groups or �early adopter� clinics. Within the past few years, Internet-distributed EHRs and related tools have been developed that may be able to reverse this trend. These systems are simpler to use, less expensive to purchase, and far easier to operate than many of their stand-alone relatives. Some even allow physicians to continue using paper if they wish. Speakers will describe the wide range of innovations that distributed EHRs and medical history tools can offer, discuss some of the hidden value, and offer case studies in their implementation and operation.
	Douglas Perednia, MD; President, The Association of Telehealth Service Providers; Portland, OR

11:00 to 11:50	Telecommunications and distributed systems as a means of distributing health education and targeted consumer information
	In a world where primary care physicians may have only seven minutes to spend with each patient they see, the vast majority of patient education is taking place outside the medical office. Although increasing numbers of patients and their families are searching the Internet for medical information, locating the right information at the tight time is tough. Many patients don�t even know the names of their diagnoses, much less how to spell them. New Internet-based initiatives from the federal government, state agencies, and private industry are trying to target high-quality patient information more accurately and efficiently than ever before. This session will review those efforts as well as the history and motives behind them. Do they face gradually increasing barriers in the form of HIPAA and direct-to-consumer medical advertising? How might these be overcome?
	Michael Kienzle, MD; Associate Director & Associate Dean, Technology and New Business Development; University of Iowa; Iowa City, IA

11:50 to 12:50	Putting it All Together: WHIN and Combined Programs Supporting Clinical and Financial Access, Universal Records, Telehomecare, and Patient Education Systems
THIS SESSION IS NOT INCLUDED ON THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS CD-ROM	There are a few places in which a wide variety of Internet-based medical products and services such as practice management, EHRs, and patient education services have all come together. The Wisconsin Health Information Network (WHIN) is one of them. Beginning in 1993 as a community health information network, it has gradually built up a portfolio of products and services encompassing Internet connectivity, billing and scheduling, distributed EHR access, patient information and more. Speakers will discuss the history of WHIN and the business model and conditions that have allowed it to grow over the past ten years.
	Marsha Radaj; President, Wisconsin Health Information Network (WHIN); Franklin, WI

12:50 to 1:00	Thank You and Conference Closing