The American Telemedicine Association will convene its 18th annual International Meeting and Trade Show this weekend in Austin, Texas, with an agenda that places an increasing emphasis on sustainability.
Benjamin Forstag, the ATA's senior director of communications, says the telemedicine movement faces its watershed moment this year, as more and more projects go beyond the pilot stage and develop into "known best practices, proven business models and innovative delivery practices."
"Our focus is no longer on pilot projects or small patient satisfaction studies – the fundamental merits of telemedicine have long been quantified. Instead, the meeting explores ways to maximize the established value of telehealth and mHealth services through the promotion of known best practices, proven business models and innovative delivery practices," Forstag said.
This year's conference, which begins with special workshops on Saturday, officially kicks off Sunday evening and concludes with a state policy summit on Wednesday morning, is expected to draw 6,000 telemedicine, telehealth and mHealth proponents from around the world. The Exhibit Hall is also larger than in previous years, and features hundreds of vendors, a start-up pavilion and a media center.
The conference also will feature its first-ever venture fair, scheduled for Sunday morning. Organized by the ATA with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, the event offers entrepreneurs a chance to meet with an investment community that has been cautiously interested in telemedicine for many years.
"It's been more a matter of educating themselves," she said. "They’ve understood the technology sector for many years, but they’ve needed help understanding the service side of healthcare.”
She added that “we’re still just starting to see the amount of investment you might expect” for a sector that, as far as healthcare veterans are concerned, is growing rapidly.
The conference's education sessions are broken into seven tracks: Best Practices and Secure Delivery Models; Finance and Operations; Innovations; Outcomes and Evidence; the Pediatric Telehealth Colloquium (which begins on Sunday); Public Policy and Industry Executive Sessions, a series of panel discussions featuring several prominent healthcare executives.
This year's scheduled keynote speakers reflect the diversity of the industry. The conference kicks off on Sunday with Lynn Britton, president and CEO of the St. Louis-based Mercy Health network, which comprises some 31 hospitals and is involved in more than 70 telemedicine projects and programs. He'll be interviewed onstage by Molly Coye, MD, chief innovation officer for the UCLA Health System. Monday's keynote will be given by Jeffrey Henley, chairman of the Oracle Corporation. And on Tuesday, Reed Tuckson, former chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth, the nation's largest private insurance carrier, will be speaking.
Tuckson, in a speech during the Digital Health Summit at last January's 2013 International CES in Las Vegas, said mHealth and telehealth are needed to "turn the battleship around" and save the nation's beleaguered healthcare system from runaway costs and ineffective outcomes. He said telehealth programs that pull in providers, payers and patients to communicate on an effective care management plan will be far more effective than small projects scattered here and there.
