Delivering Telegenetics Services: Review and Synthesis of Best Practices.

Before the COVID-19 public health emergency, few genetics providers used telehealth. As a response to this, many genetics providers began conducting telehealth care, referred to as telegenetics, usually with guidance from their institutions but without specific guidance related to the uniqueness of genetic services. The Telegenetics Workgroup of the National Coordinating Center for Regional Genetics Networks convened a panel of experts in the fields of telemedicine, genetics, and genomics to review the existing literature on telegenetics and synthesize best operating practices for medical geneticists, genetic counselors, and metabolic dietitians providing telegenetics services.

The Third National Telemedicine & Telehealth Service Provider Showcase Conference: Advancing Telehealth Partnerships.

Introduction: As telemedicine and telehealth services are experiencing increasing rates of adoption, industry leaders and healthcare service providers are becoming increasingly focused on human resource issues encountered in the delivery of a broad range of telehealth services. To create a forum for the discussion of many interrelated elements of telehealth service industry, a national conference entitled "Telemedicine & Telehealth Service Provider Showcase" (SPS) Conference was established in 2014, and repeated in 2016 and 2017, in Arizona. These SPS Conferences include thought leaders, telehealth service providers, government administrators, and academicians from leading programs addressing service provider workforce issues.

Sustaining and Expanding Telehealth: A Survey of Business Models from Selected Prominent U.S. Telehealth Centers.

Introduction: Telehealth centers across the country, including our own center, are addressing sustainability and best practice business models. We undertook this survey to explore the business models being used at other established telehealth centers. In the literature on telehealth and sustainability, there is a paucity of comparative studies as to how successful telehealth centers function.

The empirical foundations of telemedicine interventions for chronic disease management.

The telemedicine intervention in chronic disease management promises to involve patients in their own care, provides continuous monitoring by their healthcare providers, identifies early symptoms, and responds promptly to exacerbations in their illnesses. This review set out to establish the evidence from the available literature on the impact of telemedicine for the management of three chronic diseases: congestive heart failure, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. By design, the review focuses on a limited set of representative chronic diseases because of their current and increasing importance relative to their prevalence, associated morbidity, mortality, and cost.

Center forTelehealth and Cybermedicine Research, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center: a model of a telehealth program within an academic medical center.

An overview of the Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center was presented along with several other national and international programs as part of the of a symposium-workshop on telehealth, "Sustaining and Realizing the Promise of Telemedicine," held at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, MI, May 18-19, 2012 and hosted by the University of Michigan Telemedicine Resource Center and its Director, Rashid Bashshur. This article describes our Center, its business plan, and a view to the future.

Defining core issues in utilizing information technology to improve access: evaluation and research agenda.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been at the vanguard of information technology (IT) and use of comprehensive electronic health records. Despite the widespread use of health IT in the VA, there are still a variety of key questions that need to be answered in order to maximize the utility of IT to improve patient access to quality services. This paper summarizes the potential of IT to enhance healthcare access, key gaps in current evidence linking IT and access, and methodologic challenges for related research.

An independent investigation into the deployment of the federal communications commissions' rural health care pilot program.

Objective: the goal of this study was to provide an independent and objective evaluation of the implementation of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot Program.

Materials And Methods: thirty-nine of the programs that were provided funding through this program were interviewed and asked about their project deployment, network planning, and the involvement of their state in implementation.

Results: RESULTS showed that programs recruited project team members from a variety of fields to fulfill different roles.

The impact of a telehealth web-based solution on neurosurgery triage and consultation.

Introduction: To enhance the quality of neurosurgery consultations, triage, and transport decisions between a Level I trauma service neurosurgery program at the University of New Mexico Hospital and referring hospitals, a secure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant Web-based system was developed, to which digital neurological images could be sent for review by a neurosurgeon for consultation or patient transfer. Based upon prior experience of neurosurgery, it was predicted that 25% of transfer requests would be avoided if the neurosurgeons reviewed the computerized tomography scans at the time of a transfer request. In addition, it was predicted in 25% of the case that changes in management recommendations would take place independent of the transfer decision.

Challenges of the rural healthcare pilot program broadband initiative.

The Federal Communication Commission initiated the Rural Healthcare Pilot Program Broadband Initiative in 2007 to provide funds for deployment of broadband networks to rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the preliminary findings of the first phase of a larger study designed to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the Rural Healthcare Pilot Program. Interviews with 40 organizations (response rate = 64.

Health extension in new Mexico: an academic health center and the social determinants of disease.

The Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service model offers academic health centers methodologies for community engagement that can address the social determinants of disease. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center developed Health Extension Rural Offices (HEROs) as a vehicle for its model of health extension. Health extension agents are located in rural communities across the state and are supported by regional coordinators and the Office of the Vice President for Community Health at the Health Sciences Center.

Telehealth tools for public health, emergency, or disaster preparedness and response: a summary report.

Rapid advances in telehealth development and adoption are increasing the spectrum of information and communication technologies that can be applied not only to individual patient care but more broadly to population health as well. Participants in this breakout session were asked to address, from their diverse perspectives, a series of questions relating to the current and potential uses of telehealth applications and networks for public health and emergency/disaster preparedness and response systems. Participants identified several gaps in current understanding and research emphasis.

The use of virtual reality simulation of head trauma in a surgical boot camp.

Surgical "boot camps" provide excellent opportunities to enhance orientation, learning, and preparation of new surgery interns as they enter the clinical arena. This paper describes the utilization of an interactive virtual reality (VR) simulation and associated virtual patient (VP) as an additional tool for surgical boot camps. Complementing other forms of simulation, virtual patients (VPs) require less specialized equipment and can also provide a wide variety of medical scenarios.

Medical students learn over distance using virtual reality simulation.

Introduction: This article presents the results of a demonstration project that was designed with the goal to determine the feasibility and acceptability of medical students in using distance technology and virtual reality (VR) simulation within a problem-based learning (PBL).

Methods: This pilot project involved students from the Universities of New Mexico and Hawaii and compared (1) control groups consisting of medical students in a tutor-guided PBL session using a text-based case, (2) distance groups using the same text-based case but interacting over distance from multiple sites, (3) groups using a VR simulation scenario integrated into the case without interaction over distance, and (4) combination groups interacting over distance from multiple sites with integration of a VR simulation scenario.

Results: The study results suggest that it is possible to successfully conduct a PBL tutorial with medical students from two institutions with the integration VR and distributed distance interaction in combination or independently.

Employing telehealth to enhance overall quality of life and health for families.

The role of the "family" is vital to a patient's overall healthcare picture. Telehealth's ability to support the family as they deal with their health needs should be a keystone to our mission. The availability of telehealth services can be a significant support, especially in the time of difficult health situations (cancer, abuse, pediatric needs, aging parents, financial strain) where keeping a family together and connected can be very beneficial to keeping that family foundation strong.

Applying telehealth in natural and anthropogenic disasters.

There are myriad telehealth applications for natural or anthropogenic disaster response. Telehealth technologies and methods have been demonstrated in a variety of real and simulated disasters. Telehealth is a force multiplier, providing medical and public health expertise at a distance, minimizing the logistic and safety issues associated with on-site care provision.

One size doesn't fit all: bringing telehealth services to special populations.

Telehealth applications and information communication technologies can be customized and scaled to meet the healthcare service needs of a wide variety of special populations. Categorization of those special groups can be viewed from a spectrum of perspectives such as by gender, age, culture, families, communities, chronic conditions, or particular types of locations, as well as when addressing a specific or unique health need. The emergence of innovations in the use of a range of technologies and connectivity offers exciting new approaches to the integration of telehealth aimed at improving quality and continuity of care to better meet the needs of special populations.

Comparative usability studies of full vs. partial immersive virtual reality simulation for medical education and training.

Virtual reality (VR) simulation provides a means of making experiential learning reproducible and reusable. This study was designed to determine the efficiency and satisfaction components of usability. Previously, it was found that first year medical students using a VR simulation for medical education demonstrated effectiveness in learning as measured by knowledge structure improvements both with and without a head mounted display (HMD) but students using a HMD showed statistically greater improvement in knowledge structures compared to those not using a HMD.

Transforming an educational virtual reality simulation into a work of fine art.

This paper outlines user interface and interaction issues, technical considerations, and problems encountered in transforming an educational VR simulation of a reified kidney nephron into an interactive artwork appropriate for a fine arts museum.

Towards an immersive virtual environment for medical team training.

Many computer based medical simulators focus on individual skills training. However, medical care is frequently rendered by teams. In addition, the conditions under which care is provided can be a crucial factor in training.

The effect of degree of immersion upon learning performance in virtual reality simulations for medical education.

Simulations are being used in education and training to enhance understanding, improve performance, and assess competence. However, it is important to measure the performance of these simulations as learning and training tools. This study examined and compared knowledge acquisition using a knowledge structure design.