ATA19 Conference and Organization Evolve to Address Changing Telehealth Landscape

The annual event, which launches Sunday in New Orleans, will focus on innovation and transformation.  

As telehealth evolves to transform healthcare, the national telehealth organization ATA is launching its an annual ATA19 Conference on Sunday, April 14, in New Orleans and going through a bit of repositioning to better meet the changing landscape.

Now known as ATA, versus the American Telemedicine Association, the updated name and conference content reflect the broader scope of what the discipline encompasses today—synchronous and asynchronous communications, as well as provider-to-provider, and provider-to-patient, or provider-to-consumer connections.

"That's the broad rubric of what we define as our domain at this point," says ATA CEO Ann Mond Johnson. "It is different from where the organization started."

Telehealth "gives us an opportunity to reimagine care," says Mond Johnson, and the ATA19 program will give participants a glimpse into ways that can happen.

"In the spirit of transformation and innovation, we’ve taken a different approach to building the educational program for ATA19," says Mond Johnson in a news release. "The educational program will focus on defining the world we’re going to live in and taking actionable steps to meet this world on our terms as we redefine the industry. We must deliberately embrace telehealth’s promise for those who can benefit from it most: vulnerable populations, the aging, communities impacted by catastrophic events, and veterans."

In addition to many of the topics participants might expect, such as regulatory issues, success stories, and practical advice, topics addressed at ATA19 include:

• Ideas to foster innovation and engagement to advance the industry’s potential. The conference will offer opportunities to explore the spectrum of emergent technologies, trends, therapies, communication modalities, and science that will drive the next wave of telehealth solutions.
   
• The role of practitioners, including ways to provide support, resources to extend their capacity, and enhance professional training, as well as ideas about how to improve patient experience and engagement.
   
• How other industries are using technology to catalyze change.

Conference speakers include industry leaders, payers, patients, and practitioners. Among some the highlights:

• Elizabeth Teisberg, PhD, executive director of the Value Institute for Health & Care, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
   
• Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, professor of medicine and population health at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
   
• Joe Kvedar, MD, vice president of Connected Health, Partners HealthCare
   
• Margaret Laws, president & CEO of HopeLab
   
• Peter Yellowlees, MD, chief wellness officer, UC Davis Health
   
• Toby Cosgrove, MD, former CEO and president of Cleveland Clinic, who currently serves as executive advisor to the organization

Representatives from a broad range of health systems will be presenting at the conference including Ascension, Avera eCARE, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Mayo Clinic, Medical University of South Carolina, NewYork-Presbyterian, Northwell Health, NYU Langone Health, Ochsner Health System, Partners HealthCare, Providence St. Joseph Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, UPMC, Seattle Children's, and many more.  

"The ATA envisions a future where technology is used to extend the healthcare system in ways that break down traditional barriers to accessing care," says Mond Johnson. "We see a future where technology addresses clinical variation amongst and between markets, better enables practitioners to do more good for more people, and meets the needs of people who stand to benefit most."