Coming Soon: 2016 MATRC Telehealth Summit

Join the leaders of the telehealth movement at the 2016 MATRC Telehealth Summit “Improving Lives through Advances in Technology and Meaningful Data” http://matrcsummit.org on April 10-12, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort Spa and Marina in Cambridge Maryland http://chesapeakebay.hyatt.com/en/hotel/our-hotel/home.html. A number of top speakers and panelists will explore many of the current and future aspects affecting the future of telehealth.

Karen Rheuban MD Medical Director Office of Telemedicine and Director for the Center for Telehealth at the University of Virginia and Kathy H. Wibberly, PhD, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center (MATRC) will welcome the attendees.

To begin the telehealth conversation, the keynote speaker will be Christopher Gibbons MD,, Chief Health Innovation Officer, Connect2Health Task Force at the FCC. Recently, the Task Force has been actively participating in broadband high technology events throughout the country.

The program will continue with stimulating plenary and breakout sessions to include innovations in nursing telehealth, lessons learned from state funded telehealth initiatives, navigating the direct to consumer evolution in healthcare, plus many more sessions highlighting telehealth issues and progress.

In addition, Special Pre-Summit Sessions will be held on Sunday April 10, 2016. A pre-summit session will discuss how Emergency Medical Services can effectively leverage telehealth and health IT to improve pre-hospital care for people critically ill and/or injured before they reach the hospital emergency department.

Panelists will take part from the Allegheny Health Network, Geisinger Health System, University of Virginia, VCU Stroke Center, and from the Mercer University School of Medicine.

Karen Rheuban MD, and Najib Ben Brahim PhD from the University of Virginia will provide preliminary data and talk about lessons learned from a pilot program implemented at the University of Virginia’s Center for Telehealth. The pilot is going to bring clinical, financial, and operational data together to track and demonstrate the ROI for telehealth.

Moderator Robert Kolodner MD Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at ViTel Net and Adjunct Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, will lead a discussion on how patients, providers, and caregivers can effectively communicate to develop fully integrated patient-centered care.

Sherilyn Pruitt, Director, Office of Programs and Engagement, Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, will present ideas on what implications existing policies have on the up and coming integrated patient-centered care environment and discuss how these same policies are lagging behind technology which creates barriers to integrated patient-centered care.

Additional federal agencies will be well represented to include speakers and panelists from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, FCC, FDA, USDA Rural Development, Appalachian Regional Commission, and CMS. Panelists will discuss how to follow the money trail for Federal funding for telehealth.

MATRC 2016 sessions will conclude with the question—where do we go from here? Honorable Catherine E. Pugh MBA, Maryland State Senator, President of the National Black Caucus of State legislators and a Member of NOBEL Women will discuss legislative initiatives in the field. She will help others understand the policies and processes involved in bringing telehealth to the forefront of the medical profession.

On Monday April 11, a networking reception, the Connected Care Showcase, and the Poster Session presentations will take place followed by a Networking and Awards Dinner with Post-Dinner Entertainment to follow.

To view and to register for the MATRC 2016 website, go to http://matrcsummit.org. For questions or more information, email Anita Browning, Outreach Specialist, Anita.Browning@virginia.edu or call 434-270-5338.