Location/Host: Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Policy & Planning (OHHP), Richmond, Virginia
Chair: Cynthia Barrigan, RN, MPH, Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Policy & Planning, (Contractor) - Acting, Executive Director, Virginia Telehealth Network
Attending: Fran Darlington, Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention Project, Virginia Department of Health; Keltcie Delamar, American Heart Association; Marilyn Jackson, Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Policy & Planning; Dr. Vladimir Lavrentyev, Virginia Commonwealth University; Dr. Azhar Rafiq, Virginia Commonwealth University; Rick Shinn, Virginia Community Healthcare Organization (formerly VPCA); Kathy Wibberly, Virginia Dept of Health, Office of Health Policy & Planning
Attending Remotely: Ed Bostick, Northern Neck Middle Peninsula Telehealth Network; Howard Chapman, Southwest Community Health Systems; David Heise, Verizon Business; Steve Holstein, Telehealth Strategies; Karen Jackson, Office of the Secretary of Technology, Ted Kummer, Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine; Dr. Karen Rheuban, Office of Telemedicine, University of Virginia Health System; Eugene Sullivan, Office of Telemedicine; University of Virginia Health System; Dr. Nina Solenski, Neurology, University of Virginia Health System.
Total Attending: 17
Meeting was convened in the VDH OHHP 10th Floor Conference Room at 1:00pm EST with a roll call and review of the agenda.
Three hand-outs were sent as read-aheads for the meeting which consisted of: 1) Executive Summary; FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program Proposal 2) VTN Operations Work Group Charter and 3) FCC- VAST Site List.
Cynthia Barrigan, OWG Chair, opened the meeting by welcoming new VTN members recently recruited as part of the partnerships formed by the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot, and thanked all those that participated/supported the FCC effort.
Ms. Barrigan began the discussions by making the following general announcements.
University of Virginia, Office of Telemedicine submitted an application to the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot on behalf of the Commonwealth on 7 May 2007. Eight-one applications were received totaling around $500M over 2 years. It is anticipated that a selection will be made in the next few months. The exact date is unknown. See link below for a listing of all applications. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp_applications.htmlDr. Karen Rheuban was newly appointed as the Vice President of the American Telemedicine Association. http://americantelemed.org/about/board.htm
Rhonda Chetney, RN, Director of Clinical Operations, Sentara Home Care Services, will be serving as the Vice-Chair of the Home Health Special Interest Group for the American Telemedicine Association. http://americantelemed.org/ICOT/sighomehealth.htm
The Virginia Diabetes Council is in the process of finalizing the new 10-year Diabetes State Plan. VDC will be holding its quarterly meeting 1 June in Richmond. Ms. Barrigan indicated she is working with the VDC to ensure the inclusion of telehealth and health information technology goals and objectives. http://www.virginiadiabetes.org/VDH OHHP will be hosting the FLEX 2007 and State Rural Health Plan meetings 13-14 June 2007 in Staunton, VA.
University of Virginia recently received a telemedicine grant from Verizon.
Dr. Mike Royster was recently appointed as the new Director of the VDH, Office of Health Policy & Planning. He previously was the Director of the Crater Health District.
VHD OHHP is seeking information regarding desk-top video-teleconferencing capabilities as well as collaborative portals for distance learning.
Rick Shinn announced that the Virginia Primary Care Association has changed their name to the Virginia Community Healthcare Association to better reflect their mission and constituency.
The Office of the Secretary of Technology and DMAS are applying for a Medicaid Transformation Grant. They are proposing a program office and related outreach and implementation initiatives for medical community broadband deployment, E-prescribing, and administrative data exchange. Ms. Barrigan is working with Thomas Gates, Assistant Secretary of Technology, to coordinate VTN efforts/goals with plans for the Virginia Health Exchange Network (VaHEN) Medicaid program office.
The following are highlights of the discussion which lasted for approximately one hour.
Ms. Barrigan reviewed the OWG Charter first developed in January. This Charter will be published as final on 15 June 07.
Ms. Barrigan provided the following updates on VTN business.
Status of Board selection- the OWG was asked about ways to solicit for board member nominations.
501c3 application is pending Board selection, otherwise, it is complete.
Ms. Barrigan provided a re-cap of the aims of the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program and facilitated a discussion regarding how to move from conceptual design to an operational effort.
FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Proposal effort served as the catalyst for state-wide telehealth planning in Virginia by producing a clinical framework and infrastructure blueprint for the development of Virginia Acute Stroke-
Telehealth (VAST) network—the first major initiative for VTN.
The entire stroke continuum will serve as the basis for telehealth network functional and technical design.
The VAST network will be expanded to support the co-morbidities of stroke (diabetes, HTN, obesity etc).
The group discussed a variety of next steps regarding this initiative which are captured in the actions items listed below under Conclusions & Actions/VAST Network Planning.
Ms. Barrigan presented information about a tele-rehabilitation program presented by Richard Schein, University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) at the annual ATA conference- http://www.rerctr.pitt.edu. Everyone felt that this was a worthy area to explore, not only as it relates to stroke care and possible applications for VAST, but for the potential to support a range of patients with functional disabilities, to include children, living in rural areas.
This meeting was very successful in terms of planning for the formal stand up of the VTN and in organizing next steps for VAST. The following action items were identified for the next 90 days.
VTN Business
Publish a call for VTN Board nominations. – Cynthia Barrigan
Make Board selection NLT 30 June 07.- Kathy Wibberly
Complete and submit 501c3 application.- Steve Holstein
Formally launch VTN website- Cynthia & Steve
Develop a financial strategy to support the build out of VAST. Ensure alignment with State legislature budget cycles and other grant opportunities- Cynthia/Kathy
VAST Network Planning
Advocate on behalf of Virginia’s FCC Proposal- Dr. Karen Rheuban
Identify and contact model tele-stroke programs in attempts to leverage clinical protocols, telehealth applications and other best practices. – Cynthia Barrigan
Contact Richard Schein to learn more about the tele-rehabilitation programs.- Cynthia Barrigan
Develop a stroke stakeholder list- Keltcie Delamar
Develop an executive summary and Powerpoint presentation to share with stakeholders- Cynthia
Develop a draft plan for a pilot project for VAST. Pick a few sites to begin to define and develop the system, learn about institutional constraints, develop training materials, and test concepts.- Cynthia Barrigan
Conduct a needs assessment of CAHS/SHIPS (Bath, Dickenson and Page) and targeted VAST pilot sites. – Cynthia Barrigan
Research existing needs assessment tools.- Dr. Azhar Rafiq
Review the FLEX HIT grant to determine whether or not it can be leveraged in the short-term. Grant due 29 June 07.
OWG Work Group
Publish the OWG Charter as final. – Cynthia Barrigan
Ms. Barrigan closed the meeting indicating that future meetings would be held at locations throughout the state and that she would provide meeting minutes. The group continues to agree to work primarily by email and phone, and hold the next in-person meeting in the coming weeks at a location to be determined.
Meeting adjourned at 2:50 pm EST.
END
|
