A long-recognized leader in telemedicine innovation, the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) is establishing another first.
ATP is joining forces with the Four Corners Telehealth Consortium and the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center to host the first-ever Telemedicine and Telehealth Service Provider Showcase, October 6th and 7th, at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix.
The Service Provider Showcase (SPS) will bring together companies that provide medical specialty services using telemedicine technology to hospitals, clinics, health-care systems, private practices and other providers that want to offer these services to their patients.
“Our industry has reached critical mass,” said Ronald S. Weinstein, MD, director and co-founder of the ATP, president emeritus of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), honorary co-chair of SPS and a pioneer in the telemedicine field. “It’s time to create an environment in which service providers can gather with health-care providers and develop a shared agenda for the future.”
SPS will feature about 30 exhibitors, and is expected to draw up to 300 attendees, including health-care administrators, government officials, policy experts, physicians, nurses, health plans and telemedicine and telehealth equipment vendors.
“We’re doing this because we see the need for service providers all the time here in Arizona, and across the country,” Dr. Weinstein said. “There are well-established services such as telestroke care, as one example, that have proven efficacy but don’t have a workforce that’s going to take on the challenge for the 4,000 hospitals that could use those services.
“And that’s despite the data that show decreased mortality, decreased morbidity, decreased 30-day readmissions, all those parameters that have been shown to improve dramatically when these telemedicine and telehealth services are applied.”
Jay Sanders, MD, president and CEO of The Global Telemedicine Group and ATA president emeritus, has been named honorary co-chair of SPS. Known as the “father of telemedicine,” Dr. Sanders developed the first statewide telemedicine system and other telemedicine firsts.
“To have a conference focused on the comprehensive role and successful integration of specialty provider networks into the health-care delivery system enabled by telemedicine is a testament to the maturing of this knowledge transfer technology,” Dr. Sanders said.
SPS co-chairs are Dale C. Alverson, MD, founder of the New Mexico Telehealth Alliance and past president of the ATA and Elizabeth A. Krupinski, PhD, ATP associate director for evaluation, Southwest Telehealth Resource Director and past president of the ATA.
To learn more about the Service Provider Showcase, and to register, please visit www.TTSPSworld.com or email sps@telemedicine.arizona.edu.
