Over the last eight years, the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) and its subsidiary, the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center (SWTRC) have generated and hosted 100 webinars, covering a wide range of current health topics presented by subject matter experts that have reached thousands of interested viewers.
We produced our 100th webinar, "How to Get the 'Tele' in Telegenetics," on May 2nd, one week ago today.
The ATP/SWTRC webinar series started as a way to reach those interested in telehealth and related rural health issues around the state of Arizona, and provide an unbiased source of state-of-the-art information on topics ranging from specific diseases to policy and reimbursement, to new technologies and tools to improve the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare. “We never imagined that it would blossom into a forum that national leaders and high-profile researchers from around the country would be lining up to contribute to our mission to advance the effective use of telemedicine services throughout the Southwest and beyond, attracting both U.S. and international attendees with various interests and roles in the delivery of health care. In a word -- WOW!” states Elizabeth A. Krupinski, PhD, co-director, SWTRC.
In celebration of this milestone, we want to share with you some of the highlights resulting from our collaborations with more than 30 organizations in the fields of telehealth and rural health.
Our foremost partners have been the Arizona State Office of Rural Health and the Western Regional Public Health Training Center. Jennifer Peters the program manager at the Arizona State Office of Rural Health shared, "Our partnership with the Arizona Telemedicine Program and the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center amplifies our efforts to connect rural health stakeholders with timely and expert information on priority issues. ATP and SWTRC exemplify the highest level of professionalism, dedication, and innovation in support of the Arizona Center for Rural Health’s core mission to improve the health and wellness of Arizona’s rural and underserved populations. Our monthly webinar series in partnership with ATP and SWTRC is one of several collaborative activities that have positively impacted Arizona’s rural communities and the health professionals that work within them. Congratulations to the ATP/SWTRC on reaching this important milestone."
We have invited state and national leaders to present on a wide array of topics, including presenters from National Rural Health Association, AARP, American College of Physicians, AZ Department of Health Services, US health Resources and Service Administration to name a few. Jordana Bernard, director for policy and public affairs from InTouch Health recently presented on new telehealth policy and reimbursement drawing nearly 900 registrations. Ms Bernard said, “I had the opportunity to work with the ATP/SWTRC team to present on a recent webinar on reimbursement for telehealth. The communication and technical support they provided was amazing. It was a joy to work with them.”
Our webinars reach across the U.S., extending to a large real-time audience. More than 16,000 participants have registered for our webinars, including 175 registrants who took part in the latest webinar on Telegenetics. Some of our best-attended webinars have addressed reimbursement, disaster preparation and telehealth policy.
“When we started the webinar program, we knew that with time zones and very busy scheduled there was not the perfect time to air the webinar. We decided to record and archive each webinar and make them available on demand,” states Ronald S. Weinstein, MD, founding director of the ATP. We know this was the right decision since we see heavy traffic on that page. Visit https://telemedicine.arizona.edu/webinars/previous where you can search all 100 webinars and play them back on demand. Slide decks are also available for most of our archived webinars.
We plan to continue to provide timely, informative webinars to advance telemedicine and telehealth. If you have ideas for telemedicine topics or a suggestion for a speaker, we would be happy to hear from you.
