Faculty/Staff Daily Digest

This conference will feature keynote speakers and panelists who are studying and innovating virtual care models in medicine, mental health, physical therapy, pediatrics, underserved populations, and beyond. Topics including health equity, asynchronous interventions and care, and telehealth and the patient experience will be discussed and debated.

Keynote speakers include:

Dr. Courtney Lyles, an Associate Professor in the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, who researches health inequities and telehealth.
Check out her JMIR "Meet the Expert!" video. 

Todd Norwood, DPT, Director of Clinical Services at Omada Health where he built the first nationwide network of exclusively telehealth physical therapists.
Check out his JMIR "Meet the Expert!" video. 

Dr. Kristin Ray, Associate Professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who researches pediatric health system access, outcomes, and equity, with a focus on the use and impact of telehealth in pediatric care.
Check out her JMIR "Meet the Expert!" video. 

Dr. Jared Skillings, the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Chief of Professional Practice, who is leading the APA’s efforts to promote the practice of psychology and advocates for practicing psychologists through federal and state legislative advocacy and regulatory initiatives, including telehealth reimbursement for psychological services.

The conference will feature two panel discussions as well, the first featuring a discussion on telehealth and the patient experience and the second featuring a discussion around asynchronous interventions.

Panel 1: Optimizing the Patient Experience in Telehealth Delivered Care

Telehealth has exploded in popularity during the COVID19 pandemic with so many patients relying on it to receive routine care. Telehealth may involve videoconferencing, telephone, email, mobile apps, and communication via patient portals. Regardless of modality, a positive patient experience is key to the success and sustainability of telehealth models of care. In this panel, we look forward to a discussion of key aspects of patient experience that clinicians and researchers should attend to, how to assess patient experience, and patient characteristics (e.g., digital literacy) that may influence their experience with telehealth delivered care. Our expert panelists will share insights learned from their research on patient experience in telehealth.

Dr. Keren Ladin, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Occupational Therapy and Community Health at Tufts University. Her research examines questions of equitable allocation of health resources, shared decision-making, and disparities.

Dr. Jenny Lin, a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. She has experience investigating patient-level factors associated with health disparities in cancer care, and patient and clinician factors affecting telemedicine use.

Dr. Rachel Talley, an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. She directs the Fellowship in Community Psychiatry, a post-residency training program that teaches administrative and leadership skills for psychiatric leadership.

Panel 2: Asynchronously Delivered Telehealth: Advantages, Challenges, and Opportunities

Asynchronous telehealth has advantages over traditional synchronous versions (e.g., videoconferencing, telephone) in that it may be more scalable, circumvent the barrier of low bandwidth/connectivity, and allow providers to see more patients. Asynchronous care might be delivered via email and messaging, social media groups, mobile apps, and chat bots. In this panel, we look forward to a discussion of the advantages, challenges, and opportunities of asynchronous care and to ask our expert panelists for their insights on a research agenda that would push the field of asynchronous care forward.

Geoff Matous, Chief Commercial Officer & President of Wellinks, a virtual care company on a mission to help those with COPD live fully and breathe freely. He is a founding member of the Digital Medicine Society’s IMPACT initiative for virtual-first medicine, serves on the Board of Directors of the American Lung Association in Connecticut, and as co-chair of the Launc[H] Hartford MedTech Advisory Committee at Hartford HealthCare.

Dr. Peter Yellowlees, a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Chief Wellness Officer at UC Davis Health. He has conducted research in the areas of psychiatry, telemedicine, health informatics and physician health.

Dr. Jingwen Zhang, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication, University of California, Davis. Her research interests include health promotion, social influence, and interventions utilizing innovative online communication platforms. 

__________________________________________________________

There will be two paper sessions -- one on each day. Our paper presenters include:

Day 1 (1:30-2:20 PM Eastern)

Molly Waring, PhD, Department of Allied Sciences, University of Connecticut
Delivering a Post-Partum Weight Loss Intervention via Facebook or In-Person Groups: Results from a Randomized Pilot Feasibility Trial

Khawar Nawaz, MD, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
A quality improvement project to improve hospital-to-home transitions of care using discharge tele-visits

Aaron Tierney, BA, University of California, Berkeley
Care Continuity, Telehealth Use, and Quality of Diabetes and Hypertension Care in Community Health Centers Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Day 2 (1:20-2:10 PM Eastern)

Brian Gelbman, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital
An Integrated, Multimodal, Digital Health Solution for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Prospective Observational Pilot Study

Robin Higashi, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center & Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center
Provider and Older Patient Responses to Rapid Expansion of Telehealth Care in an Urban Cancer Center

Christina McGinnis, BS, MBS, Weill Cornell Medicine
Can hybrid in-person and virtual care delivery models increase telehealth access to vulnerable populations in the post-COVID-19 era?

__________________________________________________________

Last (but not least!), we will have five collaborative video poster sessions, which will occur concurrently, each day. The categories include:

May 19th 3:00-3:40 PM Eastern
Community Based Research
Mental Health
Provider Perspectives on Telehealth
Diet and Exercise in Adult Populations
Neurological Disorders

May 20th 2:50-3:20 PM Eastern
Veteran Health
Diet and Exercise in Children
Substance Use Disorders
Pediatrics
International and Immigrant Populations

Our sponsors include JMIR mHealth & uHealth and Wellinks.