Website       Who We Are       HTRC Services       Funding       Billing & Reimbursement
April 2017    
 TELEHEALTH BEAT 
HTRC's monthly telehealth bulletin
 

Heartland Telehealth Resource Center is here to meet your telehealth needs. We are a federally funded organization serving Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, with a wide range of services, and many of them are free. Email us at [email protected] or call us at 877-643-HTRC.
School nurses vital to implementation of school telehealth program

Photo courtesy of Children's Health 

Children's Health Dallas has implemented one of the country's most successful school telehealth programs. Children's VP of Virtual Health and Innovation Julie-Hall Barrow, Ed.D., who recently keynoted the Missouri Telehealth Summit, sat down with HTRC to talk about the important role school nurses have played in that success of that program and why telehealth in schools can benefit busy school nurses. Check out the video to learn more. 


EVENTS

Washington, DC
June 1 - 2

At CTeL's 8th Annual Executive Telehealth Summit, leading thinkers and innovators in the medical community grapple with all of the issues surrounding the use of emerging technologies that hold potential to improve the delivery of safe and quality medical care.
 
Here is a sample of sessions on the agenda that might be of special interest to Telehealth Resource Centers (TRC):
  • Expanding Telehealth Reimbursement: CTeL Working Group Update on the Effort with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) 
  • Telehealth: The Undefined $20 Billion Industry 
  • 3-Step Patient Engagement Training Workshop 
  • A Workshop for Setting Up Your Telemedicine Operations 
Past attendees can attest that the TRCs both benefit from and contribute to the value of the Summit experience. 

REGIONAL NEWS

Meeting school nurses where they are


School nurses are on the front lines of child health care, but with a growing incidence of chronic conditions among children, they are busier than ever before. With most of their schedules jam-packed with sick kids, how do they find time to stay up-to-date on best practices for treating these chronic conditions?
 
This conundrum was the driving force behind a new webinar series on treating children with type 1 diabetes and obesity. The endocrinology team for Missouri Telehealth Network's telehealth-based program to educate primary care providers, Show-Me ECHO, had hoped to attract school nurses to join the sessions. Unfortunately, these sessions occurred during one of the busiest hours of the day for school nurses - lunchtime. The "Endo ECHO" leader, Endocrinologist Uzma Khan, M.D., FACP noticed a strong interest from school nurses but an inability for most to attend. So through a combined effort of Missouri Telehealth Network and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), a plan was devised to design a webinar for school nurses during more convenient hours. More than 80 school nurses from across the state attended the first of the series of four webinars launched in March, 2017.  
 
DHSS School Health Program Nurse Consultant Barb Spaw, explained that a packed schedule isn't the only obstacle for school nurses - they can be geographically and professionally isolated. "School nurses in rural areas may be the only one in their school district," said Spaw. "Many can't get away to travel to trainings. That's one of the reasons I believe there was such a good response to the webinar."
 
The webinar series, which concluded April 20, was led by subject matter experts Janeth Brown-Todd, DNP, APRN, PCNS-BC, and Danita Rife, RN, FNP-BC.
 
For more information about accessing the webinars, please contact Barbara Spaw at [email protected].

 
New opportunity for Kansas docs to practice telemed  across state lines

Kansas is one of only seven states where physicians can now apply for expedited licensure to practice telehealth across state lines. This opportunity, courtesy of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, is currently limited to the other member states. Although 18 states have joined the compact, according to mHealth Intelligence, 11 states have encountered implementation delays because of an issue with criminal background checks accessed through the FBI. 

To qualify, a physician must meet one of the following requirements in the member state:
  • Be a resident of the state
  • Have at least one-quarter practice in that state
  • Be employed at a health care system in the state
The compact went live on April 6. Eligible Kansas physicians can apply for licensure in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Washington state, Washington D.C., Wisconsin, or Wyoming. 

For more information, please contact HTRC at 877-643-HTRC. 

MTN's Mirna Becevic, Ph. D. chosen as a top faculty achiever

Show-Me ECHO evaluator Mirna Becevic, Ph. D. was among the honorees at the University of Missouri's Top Faculty Achievers Reception. The annual event recognizes faculty who have received prestigious awards or grants. 

Project ECHO

Project ECHO is a program using telemedicine to revolutionize medical education  and improve access to specialty care. Project ECHO, which was developed by the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, works by connecting primary care clinicians with specialist teams via videoconference. 

Each specialty area has its own ECHO, such as autism or chronic pain. ECHO teams meet regularly to hear cases from providers and make recommendations.


Heartland Telehealth Resource Center | [email protected] | 
 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway   Fairway, KS 66205