Technologies covered include telephones and cell phones; text-messaging; Google, Skype, and traditional videoconferencing platforms; emerging smartphone apps; and store-and-forward systems. This workshop also explores current controversies in telepractice.

Speakers:

Marlene M. Maheu, PhD, TeleMental Health Institute, Carson City, NV.;

Margaret Morris, PhD, Intel Corporation, Portland, OR.;

Rene Y. Quashie, JD, Center for eHealth and Telehealth Law, Washington, DC;

Timothy Lacy, MD, Behavior Imaging Solutions, Silver Spring, MD;

Eric A. Harris, EdD, JD, American Psychological Association Insurance Trust, Rockville, MD;

Stephen T. Demers, EdD, Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, Peachtree City, GA

 Time / Location

When: Thursday, August 2, 2012 8:00 am-3:50 pm

Where: Hilton Orlando Hotel (6001 Destination Parkway)

For additional information, download this PDF

ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!

Visit http://www.apa.org/convention/ce-workshops or

call the CEP Office at 800-374-2721, ext. 5991.

Insurers such as United Healthcare, Aetna and Cigna, and large employers such as General Electric and Delta Air Lines are getting on board, pushing telemedicine as a way to make doctor “visits” cheaper and more easily available. Proponents also see it as an answer to a worsening doctor shortage.

But some physician and consumer groups worry about the trend.

“Getting medical advice over a computer or telephone is appropriate only when patients already know their doctors,” said Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “Even for a minor illness, I think people are going to be shortchanged,” he said.

Carmen Balber, a spokeswoman for Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, Calif., is concerned that lower co-payments, and other incentives, will spur consumers to see doctors or nurses online just to save money. “People will choose the more economical option, even if it is not the option they want,” she said.  See more in article at USA Today.

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Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling. Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies. Follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

At the ATA 2012 Opening Plenary, James “Butch” Rosser gave a speech about the potential of telemedicine with a resounding message: “Earth needs a win.” Rosser believes in telemedicine, having himself guided a surgeon through a complex procedure that was later broadcast on the Discovery network. Watch this passionate presentation filmed on April 29, 2012 in San Jose, Calif. His strong belief in remote supervision and telementoring are highlighted. Catch video highlights here.

It’s not about the technology any more.

“The patients are ready – they’re enabled,” said Andrew Watson, MD, a surgeon and executive director of telemedicine at UPMC and medical director of the Center for Connected Medicine in Pittsburgh. “This (telemedicine) is not an emerging technology any more. It’s emerged.”

Most Significant Trends:

• Chronic disease management and
• Delivering services to the home (as we have discussed here in this blog, with models having been developed within large institutions such as the military and the Veterans Administration (VA), leave both practitioners and patients connecting through the patient home at risk until more systems are in place.)

Biggest Challenges?

• Institutional healthcare and
• Our current fragmented system, built in “silos” where disciplines and industries don’t yet cooperate well with each other.

Exhibits

The exhibit floor at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center was busier and more crowded than ever, but with more sedate forms of technology that have proven their worth. Attendees seemed more eager to cross disciplines and discuss partnerships that could bring benefits to multidisciplinary providers using multipurpose models and technologies.

Licensure

As we’ve discussed ehre in this forum, licensure is heating up, with providers asking tough questions that simply can’t be answered with a single response The ATA’s CEO, Jonathan Linkous outlined many of the advances and continued efforts to establish national licensure (which differs from federal licensure.)

Reimbursement

Many discussions focused on reimbursement. We haven’t yet arrived at a point where reimbursement is readily available. While we’ve made progress, reimbursement still needs to be driven by business cases – in other words, providers still need to prove that telehealth saves money and improves outcomes. Only when that information is more readily accessible and advanced by the average practitioner  will we gain acceptance (and financing) from private payers and the government. Some speakers urged their audience to take those business cases to their Congressional representatives. Meanwhile we have 12 states who have mandated telehealth reimbursement, and more are currently examining the issues.

mHealth

Despite the dizzying growth of gadgets and their skyrocketing demand, fundamental issues remain, including how to design mobile devices for patient and/or providers. Mobile devices need to not only impress and render service, but also need to be “durable, secure and reliable.”

Steve Wozniak

I can’t close this post without mentioning the keynote “interview” given Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder, Apple Computer, Inventor of the World’s First Personal Computer. On Tuesday morning, the auditorium filled to hear Steve interviewed by the ATA’s President, Bernard Harris, Jr. MD, MBA. From a whirl of lights and music, the “Woz” appeared and amused, inspired and warmed us with his recollections of how he invented the first computer and his growing up alongside Steve Jobs.

For me, one of the most fascinating questions he answered had to do with suggestions he’d give to the “entrepreneurs” of telemedicine, who comprised much of the audience.

He suggested these goals:

• Do what we enjoy and partner with others to do related pieces of our business plan. He gave the example of his enjoying the technology building process, and Steve Jobs enjoying the marketing process. As a team, they were much stronger than if they had each worked independently.

• He then stressed the need to limit our focus and protect our “brand” from being diluted by outside influences, giving the example that Apple’s strength is in its control of all aspects of their product, from software to hardware, unlike Microsoft, which does not control the hardware.He drew our attention to the fact that Apple controls the software, the hardware and all other aspects of its brand: iPod, iPhone, iPad, and how they all connect to the iTunes store.

• He also stressed the need for striving to be the best we can be, whatever we do.
  

Next Year’s ATA?

If you’re serious about using technology, start making plans now for next year’s ATA. It is only by crossing our traditional disciplinary divides that we as mental health practitioners will find our place in the rapidly evolving healthcare system, which will soon demand a multidisciplinary focus on technology for both service delivery and accountability. ATA 2013 will be held on May 5-7, 2013, Austin, TX. Join me there for ATA’s 20th Anniversary!

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