Expanding ECHO Autism

Long wait times have been a persistent issue for families waiting to see an autism specialist since often the wait time for an appointment can often exceed more than one year. ECHO Autism is partnering with the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders https://thompsoncenter.missouri.edu/autism-training/echo-autism, MU Health www.health.org, and the Missouri Telehealth Network http://medicine2.missouri.edu/telehealth/protocols.html to successfully train primary care providers to diagnose and manage autism spectrum disorders. (more…)

Peterson Teams with Brown University

The Peterson Center on Healthcare http://petersonhealthcare.org is collaborating with stakeholders across the healthcare system and engaging in grant-making, partnerships and research. Peterson has just announced that a two year $1.1 million grant will go to Brown University School of Public Health http://brown.edu/academics/public-health to study how high-quality and cost-effective care can be provided to high-need Medicare patients requiring post-discharge care. (more…)

Closing the Rural Access Gap

Ashley Thompson, Senior VP of Public Policy Analysis and Development at the American Hospital Association (AHA) www.aha.org recently responded to the FCC’s www.fcc.gov request for comments requested in the Federal Register. AHA’s comments centered on how to increase better access to healthcare and how the FCC can better advance the adoption and accessibility of broadband-enabled healthcare solutions in rural and underserved areas of the country. (more…)

DHA Awards HIT SIN Contract

The first major award to include the new Health IT “Special Item Number (SIN 132-56)” on the IT Schedule 70 was made by the Defense Health Agency (DHA www.health.mil.dha. Using Health IT (SIN) will enable both agency customers and industry partners to benefit. The result of using health IT (SIN) makes it possible to separate health IT from other IT Schedule 70 services. This has resulted in a simplified procurement process now being used for health IT services. (more…)