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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

Featuring Keynote Speaker:

David K. Nace, MD
Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, McKesson Health Solutions, one of the world's largest health care and HIT companies

Nationally recognized expert on managed care, workplace-oriented programs, benefit plan design, disease management, health promotion, and work-life balance.

Founding principal of Healthcare Strategy Solutions (health benefits consulting)
Fifteen years in management with organizations with United Behavioral Health, Aetna, and similar major health care organizations
A leader in U.S. health care policy and financing strategies development for nearly twenty years
Author of numerous papers and articles on health care topics

Emerging Innovations for Improved Access and Integration of Quality Health Care

Select from three 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:

SCHOOL NURSES HOLD WORKSHOP AT KUMC

Nearly fifty school nurses from throughout Kansas City, KS, gathered at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) in March to attend a workshop on the latest telehealth services offered by KUMC, with continuing education support through the Area Health Education Centers (AHECs). Three pediatric care specialists provided updates, including the use of technology in prevention, evaluation, and treatment of common childhood concerns. The program reflects the decade-long partnership between KUCTT and the Kansas City Kansas school district in providing school-based telemedicine services through TeleKidcare. The workshop was generously supported through funding from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

Each speaker highlighted advantages of school-specialist collaboration using telehealth. Presenters were faculty from the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics.

Dr. Ann Davis described best practices in preventing and treating childhood obesity. Her Healthy Hawks team utilizes both onsite and telemedicine services to help families across Kansas with healthy lifestyle choices.
Dr. Kathy Davis provided practical strategies to help school nurses support students dealing with chronic health conditions, including mental health concerns. She introduced the Center for the Comprehensive Care of Children with Chronic Conditions (C6) initiative and encouraged ongoing collaboration to help all children succeed at school.
Dr. Eve-Lynn Nelson and TeleHelp program coordinator Thao Bui debuted the TeleHelp DVD. The school nurses were excited to see their own TeleKidcare Nurse Windy Garrett with a leading DVD role. The presentation and new DVD resource were well-received by school nurses as a practical way to educate teachers, administrators, and other interested professionals about youth depression. The presenters and nurses discussed many strategies to disseminate information about catching depression early and helping students cope effectively.

For more information about pediatric telemedicine, contact Eve-Lynn Nelson, Assistant Director of KUCTT, at enelson2@kumc.edu, or Gretchen Patch, Telemedicine Clinical Services Manager, at gpatch@kumc.edu, or 913-588-2226.

KUCTT WELCOMES DEDRICK HOOPER

KUCTT is pleased to announce that Dedrick Hooper recently joined our telemedicine group as a Systems Coordinator. Dedrick will provide additional technical expertise for our daily operations, as well as for the new NIH-funded Smoking Cessation project we are now engaged in through the Department of Preventive Medicine. With the current level of ongoing telehealth consultations and general videoconferences at our seven telemedicine sites on the KUMC campus, another video expert is a welcome addition to our office.

While Dedrick's office will be on the KUMC campus in Kansas City, he will be working closely with Dennis Schukman, KUCTT's Systems Coordinator located in Hays, KS.

Originally from Buffalo, NY, Dedrick moved to Kansas City in the late eighties. He received his BS in Broadcasting and Film from the University of Central Missouri in 2000 and worked there as a production engineer. He has also been a videographer and producer for KCPT. For the past 5 years he has been an Instructional Technologist with State Fair College in Sedalia, MO, where he was responsible for videoconferencing and online course technology. He has a Certified Conferencing Specialist Certificate from Polycom and is a member of the Polycom Users Group (PUG), and the Missouri Distance Learning Association (MODLA).

Dedrick is a huge fan of Kansas City sports teams and is looking forward to moving back to Kansas City with his wife and daughters.

INTERNET HEALTH IT RESOURCE

Searching for the latest in information on technological developments in health data management? Take a look at the Internet web site for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) - www.himss.org.

With topics focused on the use of HIT for healthcare improvement, you'll find information in areas like hospital EMR implementation, security of patient data, rapid access to data needed by physicians, automation of patient registration, sources for funding new HIT systems, and how to keep data secure but available to both clinical and accounting personnel. HIMSS also makes webinars available for the latest in information or continuing education credits.

And, if you're looking for the latest in healthcare information other than IT, check out http://www.ihealthbeat.org - a great source for news and special industry reports.

Don't have time to search the Internet for news? In the next issue of TeleNews we'll explain how you can make the Internet come to you ... with only the information you want.

For more information on HIT activity, contact Gordon Alloway, KUCTT Program Manager at galloway@kumc.edu or 913-588-2226.