Are you thinking about getting into telemedicine, can’t find anyone to provide services or don’t know who to choose from once you do find some potential providers? This is not uncommon and can often be quite paralyzing in terms of jumpstarting your efforts. As telemedicine has grown exponentially over the past few years, so has the number of commercial companies providing services. As the competition grows we can expect to see more of these companies advertising their services, attending scientific meetings and vendor showcases, and even reaching out directly to potential customers with mass and targeted marketing efforts. This commercial service provider model clearly has huge potential to revolutionize telemedicine by bringing services to even the smallest and most remote clinics that more traditional providers such as those in academic medicine have not been able to successfully reach for a variety of reasons.
The recent Service Provider Showcase hosted by the Arizona Telemedicine Program, Southwest Telehealth Resource Center and the Four Corners Telehealth Consortium was a huge success in terms of bringing together service providers and users in a unique 2-day meeting dedicated to highlighting the opportunities available in this growing arena. Feedback was exceptionally positive and another meeting is in the works for Fall 2015 (http://ttspsworld.com/).
If you are interested in some discreet steps and tips on figuring out which service provider is best for you, Elizabeth Krupinski, PhD Director of the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center recently gave a webinar to an audience of over 140 participants on “Choosing a Telehealth Service Provider” as part of the National TRCs monthly webinar series. The PowerPoint and transcript can be found at https://hrsa.connectsolutions.com/p5fbcj7gzy3/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal.
The National TRC webinars are a great way to find out what’s new and exciting in the field of telemedicine, what the TRCs are doing, and what types of services they can provide. The webinars are free to attend and occur every 3rd Thursday of the month at 9:00am HST, 10:00am AKST, 11:00am PST, 12:00pm MST, 1:00pm CST, 2:00pm EST. Notices are posted at http://www.telehealthresourcecenter.org/events and past webinars can be found at http://www.telehealthresourcecenter.org/past-webinars.
