Project ECHO https://echo.unm.edu, a virtual tele-mentoring model with more than 240 hubs operates in 48 states. Academic medical centers and others are reaching nearly 70,000 community providers by using Project ECHO to help healthcare providers, public health officials and scientists in the U.S and worldwide share best practices and information to address COVID-19.
Project ECHO is also leveraging programs in a number of states to provide critical information and ideas on how to respond to COVID-19 in the Federal sector. For example:
- CDC’s COVID-19 International Task Force conducted a 90 minute COVID-19 ECHO education session for the Department of Defense’s global HIV network of providers and their counterparts for 200 participants from over 30 countries. Participants included medical staff supporting public health response capabilities in the countries where they work.
- Project Echo supported a special “COVID-19 Response ECHO” for the Indian Health Service reaching clinical facilities from Alaska to Maine.
The Weitzman Institute, part of Community Health Center Inc., https://www.chcl.com conducted a national COVID-19 ECHO https://www.weitzmaninstitute.org/coronavirus session for safety net providers focusing on emergency preparedness, operations, and clinical care. Community Health Center Inc., highlights how Project ECHO can be used to support capacity-building efforts among healthcare providers in order to serve their patients and communities affected by COVID-19.
States and universities leveraging Project ECHO in Response to COVID-19 include:
- Project ECHO’s network across New Mexico includes almost 10,000 healthcare workers responding to COVID-19. Topics include treating COVID-19 in hospital patients, controlling infections, and developing telephone triage for possible COVID-19 patients
- Oregon ECHO Network with support from the Oregon Health Authority launched a COVID-19 ECHO to provide information on clinical management, testing, and community medical response
- Oklahoma State University launched a COVID-19 ECHO meeting three times per week virtually with participants from state hospital association, long-term care facilities, and the National Guard
- Penn State Health System is running multiple ECHO sessions on a range of virus-related topics for providers in the state each week.
- University of Chicago is in the process of integrating COVID-19 training into existing programs focused on improving primary care capacity to treat an array of specialty conditions