AMERICAN TELEMEDICINE ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES THREE NEW TOOLS TO ADVANCE TELEHEALTH’S ROLE IN ADDRESSING HEALTH DISPARITIES

Washington, D.C., September 18, 2023 – The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) announced this week that its CEO’s Advisory Group on Using Telehealth to Eliminate Disparities and Inequities is releasing three new tools this week, to inform ways in which telehealth can impact disparities and inequities.

“We launched the advisory group in 2021 to address the unique ways telehealth could be used to eliminate health disparities in the U.S. We are confident that the tools we are launching this week will support decision-making related to targeting and funding interventions that improve health in communities,” said Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the ATA. “Our Advisory Group is comprised of national healthcare leaders uniquely focused on health disparities. Led by co-chairs Kristi Henderson, DNP, Yasmine Winkler and Ron Wyatt, MD, and facilitated by David Smith, CEO of Third Horizon Strategies, their groundbreaking work will further position our community to  leverage telehealth to eliminate healthcare disparities.”

All three tools were released today, to commemorate the third annual Telehealth Awareness Week. This year’s events will highlight the value telehealth brings to patients and helps to expand access to quality care, how virtual care is addressing many of the challenges faced by healthcare providers, and its role in building a modern, omnichannel care delivery system.

• The Digital Infrastructure Disparities Score and Map uses a newly created composite measure designed to score a community’s digital infrastructure on a scale of 1-100.
• The Economic and Social Value-Added Calculator tool is designed to scope the cost of telehealth-based clinical or social interventions, including estimates for the total value of an intervention created in favor of payers, providers, government, and business. The calculator analyzes the capital and operating costs for these interventions, including technology platforms (telehealth solutions) and funding needed to ensure community members have solid, reliable, and contiguous broadband connectivity.
• The third tool is a toolkit summarizing all resources the group has released to date, including a new roadmap to address inequalities in the delivery of healthcare information and services with a focus on both access and improving outcomes.

Access the above tools here: Disparities Advisory Group Toolkit.

“These new tools build on a framework and advance our efforts to ensure everyone is able to access needed care, recognizing that telehealth is a critical component and a modality for accessing care,” added Kristi Henderson, DNP, CEO of Confluent Health, chair of the ATA Board of Directors, and co-chair of the advisory group. “The work of our advisory group focuses on creating the infrastructures and tools to allow the industry – including healthcare providers, payers and policymakers – to appropriately assess the required components in eliminating disparities, and to understand where virtual care services can help to improve the health of our citizens and the requisite investment. These tools also look beyond the traditional return on investment framework to a broader notion of economic and social value-added. The advisory group believes the economic burden of inaction should be enough to galvanize all stakeholders towards leveraging the tools necessary to eliminate inequities in care.”

Webinar Alert: Digital Disparities and Re-thinking Economic and Social Value Creation

On September 19, the ATA will host a webinar featuring a discussion with the three co-chairs of the CEO’s Advisory Group on Using Telehealth to Eliminate Disparities and Inequities, who will share their thoughts on creating digitally-centric interventions that can deliver true economic and social value across communities.– Panelists:  Kristi Henderson, DNP, Confluent Health and ATA Board chair; Yasmine Winkler, managed care executive and secretary of the ATA Board; and Ron Wyatt, MD, Achieving Equity, LLC, with David Smith, Third Horizon Strategies. Register for the webinar, here.

About the ATA

As the only organization completely focused on advancing telehealth, the American Telemedicine Association is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and appropriate care when and where they need it, enabling the system to do more good for more people. The ATA represents a broad and inclusive member network of leading healthcare delivery systems, academic institutions, technology solution providers and payers, as well as partner organizations and alliances, working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalization, and provide education and resources to help integrate virtual care into emerging value-based delivery models.