Day 1 – Monday, June 22: COVID! COVID! COVID!

As you can imagine at the International Meeting of the ATA, the shutdown from the pandemic was centerstage. It is commonly said that telemedicine has advanced 10 years in the last three months.

The big topic of conversation was the testimony of the ATA president, Dr. Joe Kvedar before the full Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Telehealth: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. During his testimony, he urged policymakers to “take specific actions before the end of the public health emergency to make access to telehealth services permanent.”

There were strong presentations and discussions throughout the day that discussed the “transformative time due to this healthcare crisis.” The point was made over and over that the power of the technology is here and it is up to us, as healthcare professionals, to make sure that we use it to provide safe, effective and appropriate care. We saw some utilization metrics that shows just how far telehealth has come since last year’s meeting.

Today’s keynote was delivered by Jennifer Schneider, the President of Livongo which delivers remote monitoring coupled with virtual coaching. They got their start in diabetes care and have moved into hypertension, weight management and behavioral health. Imagine a platform that not only tells you that your glucose level is too high this morning, but also suggests that you drink some extra water and go for a walk before work.

Speakers made us think of what it will take to be ready for the next disaster, how to make sure that we don’t use technology to make the disparity problem worse and piqued our interest with “conversational agents” (like Siri and Alexa) in healthcare.

COVID has made “telehealth” a household name and demonstrated that it is ready. Everybody recognizes that this is an Opportunity for Real Change.