Welcome to the latest edition of TeleNews from the Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
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Feature Articles 
DON'T MISS IT!
HEALTH 3.0:
KANSAS HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2009
July 14 & 15, 2009
Hilton Airport Hotel
Wichita, KS
Emerging Innovations for Improved Access and Integration of Quality Health Care
FEATURES: Technology, Technology, Technology! - What's New
- What's Working in Kansas
- Benefits in using technology
3 TRACKS -- Designed to make the best use of your time - TELEMEDICINE AND TELEHEALTH -- technology for health care delivery and service
- INFORMATICS -- clinical information management for efficient health care
- INTEGRATED HIT -- where medical meets community
For more information:
HEALTH CARE & HITECH - BIG PARTS OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY
 There has been a buzz throughout the health care community this month as President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, containing $59 billion to be spent for health care activity. A component of that Act, called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) allocates approximately $36 billion over the next six years for health information exchange infrastructure as well as incentive payments to physician practices adopting electronic health records (EHR), disease management systems, and other technologies.
According to reports in Healthcare IT News, President Barack Obama has always had health IT initiatives intended for his proposed Economic Stimulus plan. During his campaign for the presendency, Obama pledged he would spend $10 billion each year through 2014 in support of health IT utilization. As recently as last month he stated,"To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care systm to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year."
Health-related federal agencies receiving economic recovery funds include:
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) - for short-term research; construction, renovation and repairs; equipment purchase
- Health Resources and Services Admin (HRSA) - build/repair health centers; equipment purchase
- National Science Foundation (NSF) - academic research; education and human resources; facilities construction
- Department of Energy (DOE) - advanced scientific computing; construction and upgrades; research projects
- National Aeronautics and Space Admin (NASA) - scientific and aeronautics research
- Deptartment of Agriculture (USDA) - deferred maintenance at labratories
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - habitat and fisheries restoration; satellite development
- U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) - repair and restoration of science facilities
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - comparative effectiveness research
HEALTH RESOURCE ON THE INTERNET -
HEALTHY KANSAS 2010
 Healthy People 2010 is a national health initiative designed to help Americans to reach and maintain high levels of good health by engaging in healthy activity and measuring their progress against leading health indicators. This program, designed from the best of scientific knowledge within the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is designed to build on health initiatives of the past and establish measurements that will prove valuable over time.
While the national web site - http://www.healthypeople.gov - is a valuable resource for information, publications, and data that can be applied to a variety of wellness initiatives, related programs developed specifically for Kansans are also available. A check of the web site http://www.healthykansans2010.org will link you with related health issues being identified and addressed by Kansas' legislators and other state leaders. In addition to information on the overall goals established for Kansas, the Healthy Kansas 2010 web site gives you 200 specific steps Kansans can take that will ensure healthy lifestyles for you and others in our state.
Take a look at the 200 steps, and bring your agency or organization into the effort to live healthier lives as part of Healthy Kansas 2010.
EHR USE AT SAFETY NET CLINICS
 A new study has just been released by the California Healthcare Foundation containing results of the implementation of electronic health records (EHR) systems in three California safety net clinics. This study is of particular interest because safety net clinics, in general, tend to be slower to adopt the use of EHRs due to complexity of their patient care and billing systems.
The study goes into great detail regarding each clinic's implementation, and clearly points out that in adopting the use of an EHR system, clinic administrators should be very clear in what objectives they want to obtain with the new system. The dramatic change that occurs in EHR data management may result in totally different data sets after implementation than existed before.
The full report is available at www.chcf.org/documents, or contact Gordon Alloway at KUCTT - galloway@kumc.edu or 913-588-2257.
KUCTT ASSISTS EDUCATORS
 The KU Center for Telemedicine & Telehealth (KUCTT) serves as KU Medical Center's "hub" for a variety of activities related to telehealth and other health information technology. Examples of KUCTT activity include:
- Assisting KUMC physicians as they connect with patients in remote locations for both clinical and preventive services
- Developing new telemedicine or telehealth programs specifically for Kansans in rural areas
- Serving as a Telehealth Resource Center available to the public
- Educating the public and government policy-makers on the benefits of telemedicine and telehealth use
- Conducting research on telemedicine and telehealth use, measuring factors such as effectiveness, feasibility and financial impact
During the past two weeks, KUCTT has provided telemedicine demonstration sessions for students ranging from high school to post-college level. We provided demonstrations to two groups of students from area high schools who had demonstrated an interest in studying science and technology. While visiting various departments within KUMC, the students were able to view a live, interactive video conferencing event as well as discuss advancements in telehealth technology that may affect them by the time they graduate.
Our most recent demonstration was organized for occupational therapy students at KUMC School of Medicine. The class instructors, Louann Rinner and Wendy Hildenbrand, ensure that each year's students are aware of current uses of telehealth and other health information technology. This year they linked their two classes with the office of Kathy Davis, the Project Manager for the Connected Kansas Kids program and long-time user of telemedicine for delivery of pediatric services, who discussed with them the topic of grief and its effect on patients and family members.
If you have questions about the use of telemedicine or telehealth and how it relates to areas in which you are working, feel free to contact KUCTT at (913) 588-2226, or check our web site at http://www2.kumc.edu/telemedicine.
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