Panel Questions and Answers - EMS Pre-hospital Care, Mobile Integrated Healthcare and Community Paramedicine: Challenges and Opportunities with Telehealth
Innovations in Nursing Telehealth Part 1: New Models for Care Delivery - The Impact of an Interdisciplinary Virtual Healthcare Neighborhood on Dementia Caregivers
A Paramedic since 1974, Chief McCaughan served the City of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services since its inception in 1975 and helped develop the service during its infancy. Having held the positions of Field Supervisor, Rescue Supervisor, Chief Supervisor, Assistant Chief and Deputy Chief, he was named Chief of the Bureau in 2004 and served in that capacity until he retired in 2012 to join Highmark, Inc as Vice President of Prehospital Care Services in its newly formed Integrated Delivery System now known as the Allegheny Health Network.
A faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, he also completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He has served on several Boards including the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council from which he received the EMS Administrator of the Year Award. He currently serves a number of other organizations including: the International Association of EMS Chiefs as a founding member, past Vice President, and current Board member; he is President of the Emergency Medical Service Institute – the 10 County / Southwestern Pennsylvania regional EMS Council – and he is the current past Chairman of the Allegheny County EMS Council. Co-chairing the Health Medical Subcommittee, he also sat on the United States Secret Service / Pittsburgh G-20 Summit Executive Steering Committee for which he commanded the largest EMS contingent ever mobilized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He also chaired the City of Pittsburgh / Allegheny County Gaming Implementation Task Force Public Safety Sub-committee and traveled to Israel as part of a 10 member EMS delegation from the U.S. to observe their strategies and best practices for dealing with mass casualty incidents and terrorism.
Active in the water rescue community for many years, he was a member of the Founders Committee / Board member and Past Chair of both the Pennsylvania Water Rescue Instructors Association and the Pittsburgh Safe Boating Council. He also Co-Chaired the Port of Pittsburgh / United States Coast Guard – Area Maritime Security Council in the years following the 9-11 attacks.
Kathleen is a Population Health professional supporting improvement and innovations at Geisinger, including the development and implementation of Geisinger’s award-winning Mobile Health Paramedic Program.
Kathleen completed her undergrad in Business Administration at Muhlenberg College and her Master of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) from The Ohio State University. She is a Lean Blackbelt, IHI Improvement Advisor, and TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer and an Assessor of healthcare organizations’ operational excellence.
Jack is a research coordinator at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Neurology Telestroke Program. Within this role, he has brought live telemedicine consultation to regional EMS providers transporting possible stroke patients through a research study called ITREAT (Improving Treatment through Rapid Evaluation of Acute stroke via mobile Telemedicine). He is still an active EMS provider with Western Albemarle Rescue Squad, which is one of the study partner agencies. Formerly, he was the Deputy Director of Emergency Management – EMS Coordinator for Pitt County Emergency Management in Greenville NC and has been a paramedic for 20 years.
A member of the first class of physicians to graduate from the Mercer School of Medicine in 1986, Dr. Sumner has practiced internal medicine in Johnson County and has been a community faculty preceptor for the School of Medicine since completing her residency at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Navicent Health, in 1989.
As associate dean for rural health, Dr. Sumner supports the School’s service to rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia by developing strategies, relationships and policy initiatives regarding access of services, improved health status, and enhancement of student and resident medical education experiences in rural settings.
Dr. Sumner is an internal medicine physician who will become Dean of Mercer’s School of Medicine in July.
Dr. Chapman Smith is a native of Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Union University. Prior to starting her medical training she completed a two-year post-baccalaureate program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland where she developed an interest in clinical research. In 2008, she received her M.D. degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She then completed her internship/residency in Neurology at Howard University Hospital in 2012. During her Vascular Neurology fellowship at the University of Virginia, she began her focus on researching mobile telemedicine in pre-hospital stroke care with cost-effective devices. Dr. Chapman Smith is board certified in General Neurology and Vascular Neurology. Currently, she serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Director of the Inpatient Stroke Service at Virginia Commonwealth University.
A Paramedic since 1974, Chief McCaughan served the City of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services since its inception in 1975 and helped develop the service during its infancy. Having held the positions of Field Supervisor, Rescue Supervisor, Chief Supervisor, Assistant Chief and Deputy Chief, he was named Chief of the Bureau in 2004 and served in that capacity until he retired in 2012 to join Highmark, Inc as Vice President of Prehospital Care Services in its newly formed Integrated Delivery System now known as the Allegheny Health Network.
A faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, he also completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He has served on several Boards including the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council from which he received the EMS Administrator of the Year Award. He currently serves a number of other organizations including: the International Association of EMS Chiefs as a founding member, past Vice President, and current Board member; he is President of the Emergency Medical Service Institute – the 10 County / Southwestern Pennsylvania regional EMS Council – and he is the current past Chairman of the Allegheny County EMS Council. Co-chairing the Health Medical Subcommittee, he also sat on the United States Secret Service / Pittsburgh G-20 Summit Executive Steering Committee for which he commanded the largest EMS contingent ever mobilized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He also chaired the City of Pittsburgh / Allegheny County Gaming Implementation Task Force Public Safety Sub-committee and traveled to Israel as part of a 10 member EMS delegation from the U.S. to observe their strategies and best practices for dealing with mass casualty incidents and terrorism.
Active in the water rescue community for many years, he was a member of the Founders Committee / Board member and Past Chair of both the Pennsylvania Water Rescue Instructors Association and the Pittsburgh Safe Boating Council. He also Co-Chaired the Port of Pittsburgh / United States Coast Guard – Area Maritime Security Council in the years following the 9-11 attacks.
Kathleen Sharp, MBOE, LBB
Senior Performance Innovation Consultant
Geisinger Health System
Kathleen is a Population Health professional supporting improvement and innovations at Geisinger, including the development and implementation of Geisinger’s award-winning Mobile Health Paramedic Program.
Kathleen completed her undergrad in Business Administration at Muhlenberg College and her Master of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) from The Ohio State University. She is a Lean Blackbelt, IHI Improvement Advisor, and TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer and an Assessor of healthcare organizations’ operational excellence.
Jack Cote, MPA, NR-P
Research Coordinator
UVA Dept of Neurology
Jack is a research coordinator at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Neurology Telestroke Program. Within this role, he has brought live telemedicine consultation to regional EMS providers transporting possible stroke patients through a research study called ITREAT (Improving Treatment through Rapid Evaluation of Acute stroke via mobile Telemedicine). He is still an active EMS provider with Western Albemarle Rescue Squad, which is one of the study partner agencies. Formerly, he was the Deputy Director of Emergency Management – EMS Coordinator for Pitt County Emergency Management in Greenville NC and has been a paramedic for 20 years.
Jean R. Sumner M.D.
Associate Dean for Rural Health
Mercer University School of Medicine
A member of the first class of physicians to graduate from the Mercer School of Medicine in 1986, Dr. Sumner has practiced internal medicine in Johnson County and has been a community faculty preceptor for the School of Medicine since completing her residency at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Navicent Health, in 1989.
As associate dean for rural health, Dr. Sumner supports the School’s service to rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia by developing strategies, relationships and policy initiatives regarding access of services, improved health status, and enhancement of student and resident medical education experiences in rural settings.
Dr. Sumner is an internal medicine physician who will become Dean of Mercer’s School of Medicine in July.
Sherita Chapman Smith, MD
Assistant Professor, Dept of Neurology
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Chapman Smith is a native of Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Union University. Prior to starting her medical training she completed a two-year post-baccalaureate program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland where she developed an interest in clinical research. In 2008, she received her M.D. degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She then completed her internship/residency in Neurology at Howard University Hospital in 2012. During her Vascular Neurology fellowship at the University of Virginia, she began her focus on researching mobile telemedicine in pre-hospital stroke care with cost-effective devices. Dr. Chapman Smith is board certified in General Neurology and Vascular Neurology. Currently, she serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Director of the Inpatient Stroke Service at Virginia Commonwealth University.
A Paramedic since 1974, Chief McCaughan served the City of Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services since its inception in 1975 and helped develop the service during its infancy. Having held the positions of Field Supervisor, Rescue Supervisor, Chief Supervisor, Assistant Chief and Deputy Chief, he was named Chief of the Bureau in 2004 and served in that capacity until he retired in 2012 to join Highmark, Inc as Vice President of Prehospital Care Services in its newly formed Integrated Delivery System now known as the Allegheny Health Network.
A faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, he also completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He has served on several Boards including the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council from which he received the EMS Administrator of the Year Award. He currently serves a number of other organizations including: the International Association of EMS Chiefs as a founding member, past Vice President, and current Board member; he is President of the Emergency Medical Service Institute – the 10 County / Southwestern Pennsylvania regional EMS Council – and he is the current past Chairman of the Allegheny County EMS Council. Co-chairing the Health Medical Subcommittee, he also sat on the United States Secret Service / Pittsburgh G-20 Summit Executive Steering Committee for which he commanded the largest EMS contingent ever mobilized in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He also chaired the City of Pittsburgh / Allegheny County Gaming Implementation Task Force Public Safety Sub-committee and traveled to Israel as part of a 10 member EMS delegation from the U.S. to observe their strategies and best practices for dealing with mass casualty incidents and terrorism.
Active in the water rescue community for many years, he was a member of the Founders Committee / Board member and Past Chair of both the Pennsylvania Water Rescue Instructors Association and the Pittsburgh Safe Boating Council. He also Co-Chaired the Port of Pittsburgh / United States Coast Guard – Area Maritime Security Council in the years following the 9-11 attacks.
Kathleen Sharp, MBOE, LBB
Senior Performance Innovation Consultant
Geisinger Health System
Kathleen is a Population Health professional supporting improvement and innovations at Geisinger, including the development and implementation of Geisinger’s award-winning Mobile Health Paramedic Program.
Kathleen completed her undergrad in Business Administration at Muhlenberg College and her Master of Business Operational Excellence (MBOE) from The Ohio State University. She is a Lean Blackbelt, IHI Improvement Advisor, and TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer and an Assessor of healthcare organizations’ operational excellence.
Jack Cote, MPA, NR-P
Research Coordinator
UVA Dept of Neurology
Jack is a research coordinator at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Department of Neurology Telestroke Program. Within this role, he has brought live telemedicine consultation to regional EMS providers transporting possible stroke patients through a research study called ITREAT (Improving Treatment through Rapid Evaluation of Acute stroke via mobile Telemedicine). He is still an active EMS provider with Western Albemarle Rescue Squad, which is one of the study partner agencies. Formerly, he was the Deputy Director of Emergency Management – EMS Coordinator for Pitt County Emergency Management in Greenville NC and has been a paramedic for 20 years.
Jean R. Sumner M.D.
Associate Dean for Rural Health
Mercer University School of Medicine
A member of the first class of physicians to graduate from the Mercer School of Medicine in 1986, Dr. Sumner has practiced internal medicine in Johnson County and has been a community faculty preceptor for the School of Medicine since completing her residency at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Navicent Health, in 1989.
As associate dean for rural health, Dr. Sumner supports the School’s service to rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia by developing strategies, relationships and policy initiatives regarding access of services, improved health status, and enhancement of student and resident medical education experiences in rural settings.
Dr. Sumner is an internal medicine physician who will become Dean of Mercer’s School of Medicine in July.
Sherita Chapman Smith, MD
Assistant Professor, Dept of Neurology
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Chapman Smith is a native of Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Union University. Prior to starting her medical training she completed a two-year post-baccalaureate program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland where she developed an interest in clinical research. In 2008, she received her M.D. degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She then completed her internship/residency in Neurology at Howard University Hospital in 2012. During her Vascular Neurology fellowship at the University of Virginia, she began her focus on researching mobile telemedicine in pre-hospital stroke care with cost-effective devices. Dr. Chapman Smith is board certified in General Neurology and Vascular Neurology. Currently, she serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology and Director of the Inpatient Stroke Service at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Gibbons is the Chief Health Innovation Officer at the Federal Communications Commission. He is a Physician Entrepreneur, Health Innovator and Academic Physician with expertise in, Minority Health, Health IT, Digital Health and Health Disparities. Previously Dr. Gibbons was an Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Health Informatics at Johns Hopkins University. He is a published, authority and international speaker who has authored over 75 books, book chapters, research manuscripts, monographs and technical reports. He is an advisor and expert consultant to state and federal agencies, private industry and legislators. Dr. Gibbons obtained his medical degree from the University of Alabama and then completed residency training in Preventive Medicine, a General Surgery fellowship and molecular neuroncology basic research training all at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Gibbons also earned a Master of Public Health degree focusing in health promotion among urban and disadvantaged populations from Johns Hopkins.
Healthcare executive with over twenty-five years of operational experience in direct to consumer ambulatory services.
Responsible for the oversight of 30 urgent care centers, 20 employer on-site clinics and virtual urgent care services for the health system. Carolinas Healthcare is the second largest not-for-profit health system in the nation consisting of more than 40 hospitals located in North & South Carolina.
Lori Uscher-Pines is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Her research interests include innovations in healthcare delivery such as telemedicine, public health preparedness, and vaccine policy. Uscher-Pines is a mixed methods researcher currently working on projects to evaluate the impact of direct-to-consumer telehealth services on costs and quality and innovative telehealth applications to increase access to care among the underserved. She is also supporting the National Vaccine Program Office within HHS to develop and implement the National Adult Immunization Plan.
Before coming to RAND, Uscher-Pines completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, National Center for Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response. Uscher-Pines also served as an adjunct faculty member in public health at Temple University. While pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked at the Philadelphia and New Jersey Departments of Public Health.
Uscher-Pines earned her Ph.D. in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics.
Dr. Andrew Watson is a fourth generation surgeon and the sixth in his family. He earned his Master’s degree at the University of Oxford studying architectural history. He attended medical school at Columbia University in New York and returned to Pittsburgh for surgical training and minimally invasive fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is an actively practicing colorectal surgeon at UPMC specializing in laparoscopic approaches inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), working in the IBD medical home. He actively uses telemedicine in his practice for all types of surgical encounters.
Dr. Watson works across UPMC in the Health Services Division, International Division and Insurance Services Division. He is focused on global healthcare business development and information technologies. Currently he is a Vice-President of the UPMC International Division. His focus is the Nordic region. His work for the UPMC Insurance Services focus on consumer focused well- and sick-care innovation and virtual delivery.
Additionally, Dr. Watson was pivotal in establishing the Center for Connected Medicine, a $16 million executive briefing center showcasing the transformation of healthcare. He has provided over 400 tours to 6,000 people since it was opened in September 2009. He is a global speaker on healthcare transformation. He serves on multiple advisory boards and in particular is on the board of the American Telemedicine Association. He was recently selected to be a Denmark Healthcare Ambassador.
Nathaniel (Nate) Lacktman is a partner and health care lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. His practice focuses on health care compliance, strategic counseling, enforcement and litigation, as well as telemedicine and telehealth.
Mr. Lacktman is the chief legal counsel to the Telehealth Association of Florida and co-chairs the Telemedicine and eHealth Affinity Group of the American Health Lawyers Association. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Telemedicine Association’s Business & Finance SIG.
Mr. Lacktman advises suppliers, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, hospitals, physician practices, health plans, consultants and vendors, and a variety of other health care entities on a range of business, legal and regulatory issues affecting the industry. He handles matters involving contracting fraud and abuse compliance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, self-disclosures and overpayments, the Anti-Kickback Statute, physician self-referrals (the Stark Law), health care marketing rules, HIPAA, corporate compliance programs, licensing, contracting, change of ownership, confidentiality and information sharing, and policies and procedures.
Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Mr. Lacktman was a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He was selected for inclusion to the Florida Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars lists (2013 – 2015).
Mr. Lacktman received his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was an editor for the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. He is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.A., with honors), where he was a University of Florida Scholar, member of Golden Key National Honor Society, and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Dr. Gibbons is the Chief Health Innovation Officer at the Federal Communications Commission. He is a Physician Entrepreneur, Health Innovator and Academic Physician with expertise in, Minority Health, Health IT, Digital Health and Health Disparities. Previously Dr. Gibbons was an Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Health Informatics at Johns Hopkins University. He is a published, authority and international speaker who has authored over 75 books, book chapters, research manuscripts, monographs and technical reports. He is an advisor and expert consultant to state and federal agencies, private industry and legislators. Dr. Gibbons obtained his medical degree from the University of Alabama and then completed residency training in Preventive Medicine, a General Surgery fellowship and molecular neuroncology basic research training all at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Gibbons also earned a Master of Public Health degree focusing in health promotion among urban and disadvantaged populations from Johns Hopkins.
Stephen Jones, VP
Vice President
Carolinas Healthcare
Healthcare executive with over twenty-five years of operational experience in direct to consumer ambulatory services.
Responsible for the oversight of 30 urgent care centers, 20 employer on-site clinics and virtual urgent care services for the health system. Carolinas Healthcare is the second largest not-for-profit health system in the nation consisting of more than 40 hospitals located in North & South Carolina.
Lori Uscher Pines
Policy Researcher
RAND Corporation
Lori Uscher-Pines is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Her research interests include innovations in healthcare delivery such as telemedicine, public health preparedness, and vaccine policy. Uscher-Pines is a mixed methods researcher currently working on projects to evaluate the impact of direct-to-consumer telehealth services on costs and quality and innovative telehealth applications to increase access to care among the underserved. She is also supporting the National Vaccine Program Office within HHS to develop and implement the National Adult Immunization Plan.
Before coming to RAND, Uscher-Pines completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, National Center for Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response. Uscher-Pines also served as an adjunct faculty member in public health at Temple University. While pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked at the Philadelphia and New Jersey Departments of Public Health.
Uscher-Pines earned her Ph.D. in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics.
Andrew Watson
Vice-President
UPMC
Dr. Andrew Watson is a fourth generation surgeon and the sixth in his family. He earned his Master’s degree at the University of Oxford studying architectural history. He attended medical school at Columbia University in New York and returned to Pittsburgh for surgical training and minimally invasive fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is an actively practicing colorectal surgeon at UPMC specializing in laparoscopic approaches inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), working in the IBD medical home. He actively uses telemedicine in his practice for all types of surgical encounters.
Dr. Watson works across UPMC in the Health Services Division, International Division and Insurance Services Division. He is focused on global healthcare business development and information technologies. Currently he is a Vice-President of the UPMC International Division. His focus is the Nordic region. His work for the UPMC Insurance Services focus on consumer focused well- and sick-care innovation and virtual delivery.
Additionally, Dr. Watson was pivotal in establishing the Center for Connected Medicine, a $16 million executive briefing center showcasing the transformation of healthcare. He has provided over 400 tours to 6,000 people since it was opened in September 2009. He is a global speaker on healthcare transformation. He serves on multiple advisory boards and in particular is on the board of the American Telemedicine Association. He was recently selected to be a Denmark Healthcare Ambassador.
Nathaniel Lacktman
Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP
Nathaniel (Nate) Lacktman is a partner and health care lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. His practice focuses on health care compliance, strategic counseling, enforcement and litigation, as well as telemedicine and telehealth.
Mr. Lacktman is the chief legal counsel to the Telehealth Association of Florida and co-chairs the Telemedicine and eHealth Affinity Group of the American Health Lawyers Association. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Telemedicine Association’s Business & Finance SIG.
Mr. Lacktman advises suppliers, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, hospitals, physician practices, health plans, consultants and vendors, and a variety of other health care entities on a range of business, legal and regulatory issues affecting the industry. He handles matters involving contracting fraud and abuse compliance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, self-disclosures and overpayments, the Anti-Kickback Statute, physician self-referrals (the Stark Law), health care marketing rules, HIPAA, corporate compliance programs, licensing, contracting, change of ownership, confidentiality and information sharing, and policies and procedures.
Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Mr. Lacktman was a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He was selected for inclusion to the Florida Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars lists (2013 – 2015).
Mr. Lacktman received his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was an editor for the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. He is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.A., with honors), where he was a University of Florida Scholar, member of Golden Key National Honor Society, and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Chic’s passion is inspiring executives, MBA students and children to be “curious first… critical second” while creative problem solving.
He is a Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School and adjunct faculty at:
• The Brookings Institution
• The YPO University (Young Presidents’ Organization)
Chic’s first book, What a Great Idea!, published by HarperCollins, was a main selection of the Executive Book Club. In 2001, Harvard Business School released a case study on the speaking career of Chic entitled “What a Great Idea!.”
Chic’s second book, “Yes, But…” is a guide to overcoming the bureaucratic language that stifles continuous innovation. He wrote this book after consulting with GE to help design their continuous improvement process called “Work-Out.”
Chic received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware and his Masters in Education from the University of Virginia. He then worked in new product development and marketing for:
• W.L. Gore and Associates (Gore-Tex®)
• Johnson & Johnson
• Walt Disney
During the last 30 years, Chic has given over 4000 presentations and has teamed up with talent ranging from Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey to Cirque du Soleil and Second City Improv.
Mindy Brosious joined Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Center for Connected Care and Innovation in March 2014 and has been tasked with managing and developing multiple projects, including but not limited to TeleBurn, TeleWound, Virtual Inpatient Check In/Check Out, TeleNicu, TeleDerm and Virtual Visits.
Prior to joining the Center for Connected Care and Innovation Team, Mindy worked as a critical care RN, patient care manager and clinical educator within the burn and wound service lines at Lehigh Valley Health Network over a 20 year period.
Beth Mehring, MSN, RN
Emergency Services Manager
University of Virginia
Employed at University of Virginia Health System from July 1986 until present. Current role as Nurse Manager within Emergency Services for UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center, Emergency Management, Life Support Learning Center, and Medical Emergency Response. She has her Masters in Nursing Management and Leadership.
The UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center is one of Virginia’s three regional poison centers. We serve over 2.5 million Virginians including 47 hospitals. We provide 24/7 service by registered nurses with certification in poison information, clinical toxicologist and are part of a large academic health system.
Emergency Management encompasses emergency planning to ensure health system resilience during crisis situations. This includes exercises and drills to assure institutional readiness with continual review//revision of plans. Response ranges from proactive staging for large scale events to unplanned emergencies.
The Life Support Learning Center provides medical emergency education for health care providers ranging from pre-hospital EMTs to Attending Physicians. Our mission–to improve patient outcomes through quality education. Courses taught include: ACLS, PALS, BLS, ATLS, TNCC, AMLS and many courses designed to meet institutional needs. Simulation efforts are growing with extra emphasis on process improvement and team performance.
Medical Emergency Response offers support to a wide range of emergency response teams, facilitates related policy/protocol/guidelines, ensures appropriate equipment is strategically placed, administers quality over site and troubleshooting.
Prior experience includes Burn Center, Emergency Department, Medical ICU, Critical Care Per Diem Pool with staffing within multiple ICU settings and Nursing Supervisor. Volunteer experience includes prehospital care for a number of years.
Allison Walton DNPc, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
University of Virginia
I am a nurse practitioner currently enrolled in Old Dominion University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program. I will graduate May 2016. I have worked in many different areas of nursing; however, in 2003 I found my passion. I work at the University of Virginia Health System in the Department of Neurosurgery Skull Base and Cerebrovascular Division. For the past eleven years I have worked with stroke patients and their informal caregivers. This DNP project is aligned with my passion to support the informal stroke caregiver after discharge. Telehealth is a simple and inexpensive way to stay in touch with the informal stroke caregiver to offer ongoing support. I primarily care for hemorrhagic stroke patients
Christianne Fowler, DNP, RN, GNP-BC
Assistant Professor
Old Dominion University
Dr. Christianne Fowler, DNP, GNP-BC is an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University teaching in the FNP and the Adult-Gerontology CNS program. She has specialized in the care of frail older adults for over 15 years maintaining a clinical practice in long term and skilled care. Her research interests include developing new and innovative ways to provide care to the frail elderly living at home, and developing web based support for their caregivers. She is actively involved in interprofessional educational courses at ODU as well as interprofessional clinical practice.
Patty Schweickert, DNP, FNP-BC
Neuroradiology Nurse Practitioner
University of Virginia
Dr. Patty Schweickert, RN, MSN, PMC FNP-BC, DNP, is an experienced Neuroradiology Nurse Practitioner at the University of Virginia (UVA) where she is a member of the Neurovascular Team, collaborating with stroke and telemedicine colleagues within the Virginia Acute Stroke Telemedicine (VAST) Program. In this role, she works interprofessionally with the multidisciplinary stroke team as well as with colleagues in the community to manage the care of stroke patients. Patty is also Adjunct Faculty at the UVA School of Nursing where she teaches courses on telehealth and directs development of the UVA Nursing Telemedicine Education Program. Dr. Schweickert received her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at Old Dominion University in May 2011. She was awarded a Graduate Teacher Assistantship by ODU 2010-2011, focusing on Telehealth. Her DNP capstone project implemented the first patient focused stroke tele-education program. Patty served on the American Telemedicine Association Board of Directors from 2010-2012. She won the American Telemedicine Association Student Paper Award in 2011 for her work in tele-education. Dr. Schweickert also served as Chair for the American Telemedicine Association Student Member Special Interest Discussion Group, where she led HIT students, healthcare students, and business students in interprofessional telehealth projects and discussions. She was Program Director of the HealtheCongregations Stroke Tele-education project at UVA and collaborates with colleagues in the Department of Telemedicine at UVA to develop novel nursing telemedicine programs. Patty leads nurses at UVA in learning about telehealth and integrating telehealth into practice, and was recipient of the UVA Venture Award for her work in Tele-ostomy. Dr. Schweickert is a core member of the Millennia2015 WeTelemed Taskforce, a global initiative organized by the Destree Institute with the patronage of the UNESCO. In 2015 Patty and her team were awarded a HRSA grant to develop an innovative APN-preceptor training program using telehealth. She lectures and mentors within the University of Virginia and has lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on telehealth nursing and neuroradiology nursing. She is a published researcher in nursing telehealth education, telehealth stroke education, and neuroradiology topics. Patty is also a Peer Reviewer for the Journal of Telemedicine and e-Health and serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Healthcare Informatics
Mindy Brosious joined Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Center for Connected Care and Innovation in March 2014 and has been tasked with managing and developing multiple projects, including but not limited to TeleBurn, TeleWound, Virtual Inpatient Check In/Check Out, TeleNicu, TeleDerm and Virtual Visits.
Prior to joining the Center for Connected Care and Innovation Team, Mindy worked as a critical care RN, patient care manager and clinical educator within the burn and wound service lines at Lehigh Valley Health Network over a 20 year period.
Employed at University of Virginia Health System from July 1986 until present. Current role as Nurse Manager within Emergency Services for UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center, Emergency Management, Life Support Learning Center, and Medical Emergency Response. She has her Masters in Nursing Management and Leadership.
The UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center is one of Virginia’s three regional poison centers. We serve over 2.5 million Virginians including 47 hospitals. We provide 24/7 service by registered nurses with certification in poison information, clinical toxicologist and are part of a large academic health system.
Emergency Management encompasses emergency planning to ensure health system resilience during crisis situations. This includes exercises and drills to assure institutional readiness with continual review//revision of plans. Response ranges from proactive staging for large scale events to unplanned emergencies.
The Life Support Learning Center provides medical emergency education for health care providers ranging from pre-hospital EMTs to Attending Physicians. Our mission–to improve patient outcomes through quality education. Courses taught include: ACLS, PALS, BLS, ATLS, TNCC, AMLS and many courses designed to meet institutional needs. Simulation efforts are growing with extra emphasis on process improvement and team performance.
Medical Emergency Response offers support to a wide range of emergency response teams, facilitates related policy/protocol/guidelines, ensures appropriate equipment is strategically placed, administers quality over site and troubleshooting.
Prior experience includes Burn Center, Emergency Department, Medical ICU, Critical Care Per Diem Pool with staffing within multiple ICU settings and Nursing Supervisor. Volunteer experience includes prehospital care for a number of years.
Dr. Christianne Fowler, DNP, GNP-BC is an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University teaching in the FNP and the Adult-Gerontology CNS program. She has specialized in the care of frail older adults for over 15 years maintaining a clinical practice in long term and skilled care. Her research interests include developing new and innovative ways to provide care to the frail elderly living at home, and developing web based support for their caregivers. She is actively involved in interprofessional educational courses at ODU as well as interprofessional clinical practice.
Mindy Brosious joined Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Center for Connected Care and Innovation in March 2014 and has been tasked with managing and developing multiple projects, including but not limited to TeleBurn, TeleWound, Virtual Inpatient Check In/Check Out, TeleNicu, TeleDerm and Virtual Visits.
Prior to joining the Center for Connected Care and Innovation Team, Mindy worked as a critical care RN, patient care manager and clinical educator within the burn and wound service lines at Lehigh Valley Health Network over a 20 year period.
Beth Mehring, MSN, RN
Emergency Services Manager
University of Virginia
Employed at University of Virginia Health System from July 1986 until present. Current role as Nurse Manager within Emergency Services for UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center, Emergency Management, Life Support Learning Center, and Medical Emergency Response. She has her Masters in Nursing Management and Leadership.
The UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center is one of Virginia’s three regional poison centers. We serve over 2.5 million Virginians including 47 hospitals. We provide 24/7 service by registered nurses with certification in poison information, clinical toxicologist and are part of a large academic health system.
Emergency Management encompasses emergency planning to ensure health system resilience during crisis situations. This includes exercises and drills to assure institutional readiness with continual review//revision of plans. Response ranges from proactive staging for large scale events to unplanned emergencies.
The Life Support Learning Center provides medical emergency education for health care providers ranging from pre-hospital EMTs to Attending Physicians. Our mission–to improve patient outcomes through quality education. Courses taught include: ACLS, PALS, BLS, ATLS, TNCC, AMLS and many courses designed to meet institutional needs. Simulation efforts are growing with extra emphasis on process improvement and team performance.
Medical Emergency Response offers support to a wide range of emergency response teams, facilitates related policy/protocol/guidelines, ensures appropriate equipment is strategically placed, administers quality over site and troubleshooting.
Prior experience includes Burn Center, Emergency Department, Medical ICU, Critical Care Per Diem Pool with staffing within multiple ICU settings and Nursing Supervisor. Volunteer experience includes prehospital care for a number of years.
Dr. Ben Brahim holds a PhD in Systems and Information Engineering from University of Virginia (UVA). He is also on the verge of finishing a PhD in Health Biology at the Montpellier School of Medicine in France. He earned an engineering degree from the best telecommunications engineering school in Tunisia and a Master of Science in Healthcare IT from Institut Mines-Telecom in France. Dr. Ben Brahim has spent the past 5 years as a telemedicine fellow in Tunisia, France and the United States. He played a role in organizing national and international conferences around telemedicine in the developing world. Dr. Ben Brahim is the founder of Telehealth Management, a company that is currently working with Health Systems to build a self-sustainable and scalable business model for telehealth.
David is Director of Telehealth Initiatives for the MedStar Health Institute for Innovation, in Washington, DC where he works to further the creative adoption of innovative healthcare delivery methods within and beyond the MedStar Health System. He is leading efforts to explore ways in which modern information and communication technologies can be integrated into the delivery of healthcare to expand and grow the portfolio of MedStar’s clinical and research telehealth initiatives. He also holds an adjunct faculty position with the Catholic University of America School of Engineering, where he received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Biomedical Engineering.
David has presented at national and international conferences and meetings, and authored more than 30 articles on telehealth, telerehabilitation, and human factors. He is the former chair of the Telerehabilitation Special Interest Group of the American Telemedicine Association, where he currently serves on the Standards and Guidelines Committee. He has high visibility within the telehealth community through active participation in grant and journal review panels, conference committees, and professional association working groups. His research interests include telehealth; personal, mobile and social networking technologies; human factors engineering; user-centered design; and health services research
Andrew Watson
Vice-President
UPMC
Dr. Andrew Watson is a fourth generation surgeon and the sixth in his family. He earned his Master’s degree at the University of Oxford studying architectural history. He attended medical school at Columbia University in New York and returned to Pittsburgh for surgical training and minimally invasive fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is an actively practicing colorectal surgeon at UPMC specializing in laparoscopic approaches inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), working in the IBD medical home. He actively uses telemedicine in his practice for all types of surgical encounters.
Dr. Watson works across UPMC in the Health Services Division, International Division and Insurance Services Division. He is focused on global healthcare business development and information technologies. Currently he is a Vice-President of the UPMC International Division. His focus is the Nordic region. His work for the UPMC Insurance Services focus on consumer focused well- and sick-care innovation and virtual delivery.
Additionally, Dr. Watson was pivotal in establishing the Center for Connected Medicine, a $16 million executive briefing center showcasing the transformation of healthcare. He has provided over 400 tours to 6,000 people since it was opened in September 2009. He is a global speaker on healthcare transformation. He serves on multiple advisory boards and in particular is on the board of the American Telemedicine Association. He was recently selected to be a Denmark Healthcare Ambassador.
Elizabeth Price
Senior Director of Best Practice & Care Gaps
Gesinger Health System
Elizabeth Price is the Senior Director of Care Gaps and Community Practice Best Practices within the Geisinger Health System. She is accountable to direct the development, implementation and dissemination of primary care innovation initiatives, specifically as they relate to streamlining the use of the electronic health record, point of care workflows and pre-visit workflows across 48 primary care practices. Liz is accountable at a system level to lead and manage the identification and closure of clinical care gaps across primary and specialty care. She is focused on achieving best practices, and following evidence-based guidelines with emphasis on improving quality, patient safety and clinic operations.
Liz’s 25 years of healthcare experience include; 1) clinic operations, 2) electronic health record development, implementation, support, 3) performance improvement, and 4) project management at both the strategic and individual project level.
Liz is a graduate of Misericordia University with a BS degree in Health Care Management. Robert Kolodner, MD
VP and Chief Medical Officer
ViTel Net
Robert M. Kolodner, MD, is Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for ViTel Net, a leading provider of innovative, easily adaptable telemedicine/telehealth technology solutions covering the entire continuum of care. For more than two decades, ViTel Net has pioneered advancements in the telehealth industry with state-of-the-art technology and a customer-centric focus that have earned the company industry honors and a reputation for excellence.
With a passion for promoting person-centered health and care and fostering the development of a Learning Health System, Dr. Kolodner continues his work to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities worldwide by facilitating the widespread use and rapid evolution of health IT tools and solutions. An advocate of “positive disruption,” Dr. Kolodner promotes solutions that are better, cheaper and more convenient for users and customers.
Dr. Kolodner’s 31 years of federal service and leadership include serving as the National Coordinator for Health IT, the President’s designated lead for the United States eHealth initiatives, and as the key clinical champion in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) providing vision, direction and effective leadership for VA’s award-winning suite of health IT solutions, including My HealtheVet, a Personal Health Record for veterans, and VistA – the world’s first successful large-scale Electronic Health Record implementation. His VA activities also included research and teaching, with clinical faculty appointments at the Emory University School of Medicine, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Kolodner received his A.B. from Harvard, M.D. from Yale, and completed his medical internship at New England Deaconess Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) and his psychiatric residency at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Kolodner is board certified in psychiatry, and is a Fellow in the American College of Medical Informatics and a Lifetime Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association.
Event Recording
Speaker Biography
Brian Gunnell
Senior System Engineer
UVA Center for Telehealth
For the past Six years, Brian S. Gunnell has served as the senior video-conferencing engineer for the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Brian brings extensive experience in mobile and fixed endpoint vtc technology, communications and telepresence infrastructure as well as the clinical applications of mobile telehealth. Brian has played a vital role in the conception, development and application of the University’s emergency telemedicine capabilities, including the management of special pathogens, tele-stroke and neonatal interventions as well as the application of mobile vtc to enable NIH stroke scale application while the patient is in route. In addition, he has substantial expertise in developing videoconferencing in low resource environments and has spearheaded telemedicine program development in Guatemala, Tanzania, China, Bangladesh and in Appalachian Southwestern Virginia. Brian has published in the area of mobile telestroke application, the use of telemedicine in response to the Ebola virus and developed and published a widely used portal assessment tool for use in global public health initiatives.
Samantha Meklir leads the Division of Strategic Policy in the Office of the Policy of The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). She’s held various positions within HHS over the past fifteen years including with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and with the Health Resources and Services Administration. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her graduate degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas- Austin in 2000.
Cora Han is a senior attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection where she investigates and prosecutes violations of federal laws protecting the privacy and security of consumer information, and works on related policy matters. She organized the FTC’s seminar on Consumer Generated and Controlled Health Data, and her law enforcement actions include the Commission’s settlement with Facebook. In addition, Cora was one of the principal authors of the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule. Prior to joining the FTC, Cora was an attorney with WilmerHale, where her practice focused on trademark, copyright, and media law.
Samantha Meklir leads the Division of Strategic Policy in the Office of the Policy of The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). She’s held various positions within HHS over the past fifteen years including with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and with the Health Resources and Services Administration. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her graduate degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas- Austin in 2000.
Cora Han
Senior Attorney
Federal Trade Commission
Cora Han is a senior attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection where she investigates and prosecutes violations of federal laws protecting the privacy and security of consumer information, and works on related policy matters. She organized the FTC’s seminar on Consumer Generated and Controlled Health Data, and her law enforcement actions include the Commission’s settlement with Facebook. In addition, Cora was one of the principal authors of the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule. Prior to joining the FTC, Cora was an attorney with WilmerHale, where her practice focused on trademark, copyright, and media law.
Event Recording
Speaker Biography
Nathaniel Lacktman
Partner
Foley & Lardner LLP
Nathaniel (Nate) Lacktman is a partner and health care lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. His practice focuses on health care compliance, strategic counseling, enforcement and litigation, as well as telemedicine and telehealth.
Mr. Lacktman is the chief legal counsel to the Telehealth Association of Florida and co-chairs the Telemedicine and eHealth Affinity Group of the American Health Lawyers Association. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Telemedicine Association’s Business & Finance SIG.
Mr. Lacktman advises suppliers, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, hospitals, physician practices, health plans, consultants and vendors, and a variety of other health care entities on a range of business, legal and regulatory issues affecting the industry. He handles matters involving contracting fraud and abuse compliance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, self-disclosures and overpayments, the Anti-Kickback Statute, physician self-referrals (the Stark Law), health care marketing rules, HIPAA, corporate compliance programs, licensing, contracting, change of ownership, confidentiality and information sharing, and policies and procedures.
Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Mr. Lacktman was a judicial extern for the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He was selected for inclusion to the Florida Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars lists (2013 – 2015).
Mr. Lacktman received his law degree from the University of Southern California School of Law, where he was an editor for the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. He is a graduate of the University of Florida (B.A., with honors), where he was a University of Florida Scholar, member of Golden Key National Honor Society, and a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Nancy A. Roget, MS, is the Executive Director of the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada, Reno, a grant-funded organization providing training and technical assistance in substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery with an annual budget over 4 million dollars. She is the Project Director for several federal (CDC, and SAMHSA) and state grants. Recently, she was awarded the National Frontier and Rural ATTC grant with a focus on telehealth technologies. During her tenure she has created innovative initiatives, including an online minor in addiction counseling and prevention services. Previously, she directed community-based substance abuse treatment programs for adolescents and their family members for 14 years. She has written training manuals and peer-reviewed journal articles. Ms. Roget has devoted her entire professional career (36 years) to the substance abuse treatment profession working as a counselor, treatment coordinator, executive director, trainer, lecturer, project manager, and principal investigator.
Nancy A. Roget, MS, is the Executive Director of the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada, Reno, a grant-funded organization providing training and technical assistance in substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery with an annual budget over 4 million dollars. She is the Project Director for several federal (CDC, and SAMHSA) and state grants. Recently, she was awarded the National Frontier and Rural ATTC grant with a focus on telehealth technologies. During her tenure she has created innovative initiatives, including an online minor in addiction counseling and prevention services. Previously, she directed community-based substance abuse treatment programs for adolescents and their family members for 14 years. She has written training manuals and peer-reviewed journal articles. Ms. Roget has devoted her entire professional career (36 years) to the substance abuse treatment profession working as a counselor, treatment coordinator, executive director, trainer, lecturer, project manager, and principal investigator.
Rachel Mutrux is the director of the Missouri Telehealth Network and has been with MTN since 2002. As director, Rachel is responsible for setting the strategic goals for MTN, managing the day to day operations, working with network partners to coordinate and promote telehealth activities. She has oversight of MTN budgets and grants. Rachel is active in the national telehealth affiliation groups and presents locally, regionally and nationally on MTN projects such as Heartland Telehealth Resource Center, HTRC and Show-Me ECHO . Finally, she works to secure funding for telehealth, advocates for legislative policy and works with outside agencies to promote local, state, federal and international telehealth activities and policies. She has built a strong network of relationships in Missouri with health systems, state organizations, health care providers and administrators, and other telehealth stakeholders.
Kathy G. Schwarting, MHA
Executive Director
Palmetto Care Connections
Kathy G. Schwarting, MHA serves as the Executive Director of Palmetto Care Connections, a non-profit telehealth network for SC. PCC works with existing telemedicine/telehealth providers to promote/expand their services as well as with new up and coming applications. PCC primarily focuses on improving access to care for rural populations. Kathy has 20 years of experience in rural health care working with various types of providers to improve the overall health care delivery systems as well as to recruit and retain providers in those communities. She spent more than twelve years working to foster relationships, develop partnerships and promote shared services between health care providers in Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell and Hampton counties by developing and coordinating the first not-for-profit rural health network in the state. Kathy has also served in various capacities of leadership and management in the rural hospital setting.
Kathy received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina and holds a Masters in Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. She serves on numerous advisory boards throughout the state including: the South Carolina Health Information Exchange (SCHIEx), the SC Advisory Council on Aging, the Regional Educational Consortium Area Board of SC, Bamberg City Council and the Bamberg County Economic Development Board. Kathy resides in Bamberg with her husband and two teenage sons. She enjoys a break from the health care scene by watching her sons play sports on either the football field, basketball court or baseball field.
Rebecca E. Gwilt, Esq. is a Virginia-licensed attorney and Partner at Nixon Law Group. She provides legal, regulatory, and business guidance to health care clients, focused primarily on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms, health information technology (including mHealth and telehealth), accountable care, integrated care, value-based care, fraud and abuse (Stark, Anti-kickback, False Claims, and CMP), payor contracting, healthcare privacy/security (HIPAA, FERPA, Part 2). She also provides corporate and transactional services to healthcare clients, including business formation and dissolution, employment contracts and disputes, licensing, board and general compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and
reimbursement.
She has a particular interest in serving clients in the mental and behavioral health and substance abuse industry. After graduating from the top-ranked Health Care Law program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Rebecca served at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she worked with CMS leadership and the President’s domestic policy counsel to develop Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy, guidance, regulations and technology contracts. Her expertise includes deep knowledge of ACA laws and regulations affecting various stakeholder groups, including large and small employers, healthcare providers, payors and healthcare software and services vendors. She brings to her clients a functional knowledge of health care policy, regulatory compliance, and law, and is a thought leader regarding the future of public and private health reforms.
Rebecca also serves on the Board of the Free Clinic of Powhatan, the mission of which is to increase access to affordable health care services for indigent individuals and families in Powhatan, VA. She volunteers for the Richmond Bar Association and is a member of The American Bar Association and the American Health Lawyers Association. She lives with her husband and two sons in Chesterfield, VA.
Event Recording
Speaker Biography
Tamara Broadnax, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
Department Director, Telemedicine Center
VCU Health
Tamara Broadnax, MSN, RN, NEA-BC is the Director of Telemedicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Health. She has a Bachelor’s in Human Factors Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master’s in Nursing Administration and Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is board certified as a Nurse Executive, Advanced. She has extensive Telemedicine experience from the Department of Veterans of Affairs where she held a national certification as a Clinical Video Master Preceptor and managed Remote Home Monitoring, Clinical Video and Store & Forward Programs. She is the Department Director of one of the oldest Telemedicine programs which has conducted over 45,000 patient visits since 1995. VCU Health also has one of the largest Correctional Telemedicine programs which provides specialty care consultative services to 35 Department of Corrections facilities across the Commonwealth of Virginia. She serves on the Board of Directors and as a Consultative Service Partner with the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center (MATRC), serves as a Board Member and on Grant Steering and Education committees for the Bay River’s Telehealth Alliance (BRTA), serves on a Telemedicine Advisory Review Panel for Care First Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and serves by appointment, on an ADHOC Committee on Telemedicine for the Virginia Board of Medicine.
S. Craig Thomas, MSN, RN, ACNP, CHFN
Nurse Practitioner
University of Virginia Medical Center
Is the Supervisor and leader of the University of Virginia Medical Center’s Heart Health @ Home program, the first Grand-Aide Chronic care/ Transitional care heart failure program in the US. He has taken the Grand-Aide platform from concept to operational program with positive outcomes. Health systems across the globe are watching the evolution of this program, evaluating the merit and possible replication.
Craig has been a heart failure/ cardiovascular nurse since 2001, working as a bedside nurse, unit manager and now an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in the Heart Failure program. Received his BS degree in Biology from James Madison University, his BSN, MSN and post-Master’s ACNP from University of Virginia. He is certified by ANCC as a Clinical Nurse Specialist, Acute Care NP and as a Heart Failure nurse from American Association of Heart Failure Nurses where he also serves as the Chair-Elect on the Education Committee.
Craig has been heavily involved in heart failure readmission reduction strategies for UVAMC and has first-hand knowledge of the various points of impact nursing care has on patient transitions of care.
Bonnie Britton, MSN, RN, ATAF
Owner/Manager
Reconnect4health
Bonnie is recognized as a telehealth pioneer and expert. She has dedicated the past 18 years of her career as a nurse, advancing the adoption and implementation of telehealth both nationally and internationally. Bonnie was the 13th inductee into the American Telemedicine Association’s (ATA) College of Fellows in 2010. Bonnie is a previous ATA Board Member, chaired the ATA Home Telehealth SIG, chaired the ATA Home Telehealth Clinical Guidelines Development Committee, co-chaired the ATA Home Telehealth Satisfaction Item Bank, and member of the ATA Policy, Awards and Nominating Committees. Bonnie has provided expertise to the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, the Ontario Telehomecare Project, Continua Health Alliance: Blueprint for ACA Pilots in Washington DC and the Senate Sub-committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Under Bonnie’s leadership, Vidant Health implemented a post discharge remote patient monitoring program at 7 hospitals. In 2 years, the health system experienced a 67% reduction in hospitalizations and a 68% reduction in bed days. Prior to this, Bonnie implemented the first Remote Patient Monitoring program at a Federally Qualified Health Center which in 5 years demonstrated statistically significant reductions in both hospitalizations and bed days.
Bonnie founded Reconnect4Health in 2015 to provide patient centered remote monitoring for patients with chronic conditions who are hi-risk, hi-cost, and vulnerable. Reconnect4Health is a nurse owned company which provides state of the art care management to change the patient’s paradigm resulting in a more engaged health care experience.
Co-Founder/Managing Partner of The River Practice & VP
The River Practice & ExamMed
Charlene is a co-founder and managing partner of The River Practice. She is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner with 29 years of experience in many areas of healthcare including emergency medicine, critical care, urgent care, occupational, environmental health and corporate medicine, primary care, population health initiatives, and healthcare/practice design and management.
Charlene obtained her BSN from University of Pittsburgh, and MSN and Family Nurse Practitioner certification from the West Virginia University. She has been faculty at multiple universities teaching population health, critical care, emergency medicine, LTC, and forensics. Charlene is a well- known speaker for attorneys, insurance carriers, corporations and medical professionals on a wide variety of topics (e.g. Risk mitigation, population health, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, management of complex co-morbid patient conditions, food borne illnesses, travel medicine and many more.) In addition, she performs national consulting and expert witness work on a variety of legal matters including sexual assault, life care planning, and negligence.
Charlene has a primary focus on developing population health initiatives and occupational medicine, risk mitigation in the workplace, corporate and community safety and wellness, and developing virtual care in practices and healthcare systems nationwide.
Rebekah, a member of BKD National Health Care Group, has more than 20 years of coding, revenue cycle management and operations experience. She provides medical reimbursement consulting and operational reviews for physician clinics, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics and behavioral health centers.
She is experienced in consulting on professional revenue cycle analysis and enhancement, medical practice operations, patient flow redesign, business process improvement and development, staffing analysis and redesign, practice efficiency and productivity and educational sessions and training.
An avid speaker, Rebekah has frequently given lectures about operational improvements, revenue enhancements and billing topics at events hosted by state primary care associations and state chapters of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, American Health Information Management Association and the National Association of Community Health Centers.
She is a Certified Professional Coder® (CPC®) through the American Academy of Professional Coders, a Certified Medical Practice Executive (CMPE) through the American College of Medical Practice Executives, a Certified Professional Medical Compliance Specialist – Physician (MCS-P) and certified in occupational health practice management through the National Association of Occupational Health Professionals.
Peter Kragel, MD, received his baccalaureate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his MD from Georgetown University. He completed his residency training at the University of Maryland Hospital, and is board-certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. Dr. Kragel served four years in the Navy at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He is Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University and Chief of Service for Vidant Medical Center. He is a member of the Association of Pathology Chairs (APC), and as the Association’s elected member-at-large, sits on the APC Council and chairs its Fellowship Directors Committee. He has over twenty years experience as a department chair, and served as Interim Dean of the ECU Brody School of Medicine from January 2001 through October 2003. In the field of Telemedicine, Doctor Kragel has served on the Universal Services Administrative Company Board of Directors, as the Board Secretary and Vice Chair of the Rural Health Committee. He is the Clinical Director of the Brody School of Medicine Telemedicine Center and member of the NCTN Advisory Committee. Doctor Kragel also maintains an active surgical pathology practice, and is a member of the Arthur Purdy Stout Society of Surgical Pathologists, the College of American Pathologists, and other professional organizations.
Presentation PDF
Kathleen Sharp, MBOE, LBB
Jack Cote, MPA, NR-P
Jean R. Sumner M.D.
Sherita Chapman Smith, MD
Chris Gibbons, MD, MPH
Stephen Jones, VP
Nathaniel Lacktman
Chic Thompson
Mindy Brosious, BSN RN
Najib Ben Brahim, PHD
David Brennan
Andrew Watson
Elizabeth Price
Brian Gunnell
Samantha Meklir
Cora Han
Nancy A. Roget, MS
Rachel Mutrux
Kathy G. Schwarting, MHA
Rebecca E. Gwilt, Esq.
Tamara Broadnax, MSN, RN, NEA-BC
S. Craig Thomas, MSN, RN, ACNP, CHFN
Bonnie Britton, MSN, RN, ATAF
Charlene McFeeley, MSN, NP-C, LNC, NLCP, SANE, CME
Wallace Pardeck, Rebekah
Peter Kragel, MD