Save the Date for CTeL's Upcoming Credentialing and Privileging Brown Bag!
On May 24th, CTeL will host its monthly Washington Live! Brown Bag Telehealth Seminar, which will be on the topic Credentialing and Privileging: The Latest Status of CMS' Conditions of Participation. Don't miss your chance to hear from telehealth experts on the latest update on the issue of credentialing and privileging of telehealth providers. Stay tuned for more details regarding this upcoming event!
Click here to sign up for the May 24, 2010 CTeL Washington Live! Brown Bag Telehealth Seminar!
WHAT: The May CTeL Washington Live! Brown Bag Telehealth Seminar
WHEN: Monday, May 24, 2010 - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (EDT)
WHERE: Webinar/or in person at the offices of:
Drinker Biddle & Reath
1500 K Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
Upcoming Events
May 16, 2010
San Antonio, Texas
May 22, 2010
Portland, Oregon
June 3, 2010
Minneapolis, Minnesota
June 28, 2010
Chelan, Washington
October 13, 2010
Seattle, Washington
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Sandy's Corner:
A great deal is happening this month:
- On May 16-18, the American Telemedicine Association will hold its 15th Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, with pre-conference activities beginning on Saturday May 15. ATA focuses exclusively on Telemedicine and Telehealth, which will both be featured in conference courses and in the exhibit hall. The latest in telemedicine equipment will be displayed by vendors.
- Washington Medicaid programs will receive thousands of dollars in federal matching funds for state planning activities necessary to implement the electronic health record incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. On Tuesday the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Washington will receive about $967,000 for the EHR planning work. The federal stimulus law provides a 90% federal match for state planning activities to administer the incentive payments to Medicaid providers. This ensures proper payments through audits and encourages participation in statewide efforts to promote interoperability and meaningful use of EHR technology statewide and, eventually, across the nation. This is very exciting news for Washington state residents.
- In a related newsletter article we have included information about the National Broadband Plan and its recommendations for creating appropriate incentives for e-care utilization, modernization regulation to enable health IT adoption, mechanisms to unlock the value of the data by establishment of common standards, and ensuring sufficient connectivity for healthcare delivery locations. This presents overlap with the HHS priorities of improving care-quality, reducing disparities, engaging patients and families in managing their health, and ensuring adequate privacy and security of health information. These are all common goals that our region has been working on for the past several years and the increased focus on this from the National arena will provide significant focus and funding.
As summer approaches, safe travels and sunny weather for those of you with vacation plans.
(Sandy Kukla is Senior Program Manager for GCI ConnectMD in Seattle, WA)
Upcoming Event: ATA - May 16 - San Antonio, TX
 The ATA Annual Meeting is the single-most important event of the year in telemedicine, keeping you up to date with the latest developments in your field. Taking place at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, May 16-18, 2010, ATA 2010 will focus on outcomes and evidence for telemedicine and telehealth. The meeting will feature roughly 350 peer-reviewed presentations, covering the full spectrum of telemedicine-related subject areas and specialties, within eight concurrent tracks. Presentations will include oral concurrents, poster presentations, pre-meeting courses and general plenaries. ATA 2010 will also include special Executive Roundtables, featuring top executives in the industry discussing the future of telemedicine from a corporate perspective.
Steve Constantine from GCI will be participating in the Executive Roundtable on Tuesday May 18, discussing the theme of insights from corporate leadership on the future of telemedicine. Be sure to stop by Plenary Ballroom C at 1 pm to listen.
Washington NoaNet Expansion
 On March 1, 2010, U.S. Commerce Secretary Locke announced an $84 million Recovery Act investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in Washington State. This investment will expand the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet) to deliver new and enhanced broadband capabilities to some of the more remote regions of the state by adding 830 miles of fiber and eight new microwave sites to the existing high-speed network. GCI was pleased to support NoaNet in their efforts to obtain funding for this project. The expansion of NoaNet will be a major step towards extending broadband network access to rural and underserved area of Washington including tribal centers for Makah, Jamestown S'Klallam and Shoalwater Bay Tribes on the Olympic Peninsula. With increased access to resources, hospitals and clinics throughout the state will be able to improve healthcare delivery.
TERRA Project to Extend Broadband to Southwest Alaska
On January 25, 2010, GCI received notice that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Services approved United Utilities, Inc's (UUI) application for an $88 million loan/grant combination to extend terrestrial broadband service for the first time to the Southwest Alaska regions of Bristol Bay and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, an area roughly the size of North Dakota.
The project, called TERRA-Southwest (TERRA-SW), is a historic investment by GCI and UUI that will provide the first ever high speed fiber optic and microwave connection to Southwest Alaska. TERRA-SW will extend terrestrial broadband service to 65 communities and 9000 + households, and serve numerous public, non-profit, and private entities such as regional health corporations, school districts, and native organizations.
National Broadband Plan
With the creation of the National Broadband Plan in accordance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, there are many potential benefits for healthcare. Broadband and health IT can transform healthcare, simultaneously enabling better outcomes and lowering costs.
Listed below are the specific goals of the National Broadband Plan:
- Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
- Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
- Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
- Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
- Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
- Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.
For more information about the National Broadband Plan, visit http://www.broadband.gov/
To submit your stories, tips or news items:
If you would like to submit, please respond by email to skukla@gci.com. Please give us your full contact information, a brief description of your submission and attach your Word, PDF and appropriate files or you may contact us by phone at: (866) 221-4841. When we add your submission we will also include an outside link to your organization’s website.
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