Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Division Director, Digital Healthcare Research Division
Presentation Abstract
Provider-to-Provider Telehealth Adoption and Sustainability
For those living in rural and underserved communities, specialty care can be difficult to access. As a result, those needing specialty care (1) may not receive it; (2) may receive it from a non-specialist; or (3) may have to travel long distances to receive it—alternatives with potentially negative health outcomes. Provider-to-provider telehealth-guided models may prove beneficial for those living in rural and underserved communities.
This presentation focuses on the adoption and subsequent sustainability of P2P telehealth. Three recent provider-to-provider telehealth efforts, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), will be discussed from the perspective of adoption. These AHRQ-funded efforts offer a wide range of provider-to-provider telehealth from nursing home education to stroke consults to asynchronous telepsychiatry. The Technology Adoption Model (TAM) will provide the lens from which to consider adoption barriers and challenges. The TAM is a framework for understanding users’ adoption and use of emerging technologies. It suggests that a person’s acceptance and actual use of a technology is based upon the person’s perceptions of the specific technology’s usefulness and ease of use. Since one’s perceptions of usefulness and ease of use are affected by external factors, relevant socio-technical factors will also be discussed. Concluding remarks will offer a perspective on sustainability of provider-to-provider interventions. In particular, the question “what might funders do to foster sustainability?” will be considered.
About Ms. Dymek
Ms. Christine (Chris) Dymek leads the work of the Division of Digital Healthcare Research within the AHRQ’s Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement. She is a computer scientist and health services researcher who is dedicated to advancing the productive use of digital technologies within health care.
Prior to joining AHRQ, Ms. Dymek was a program manager in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation where she led the HHS effort, supported by the Patient-centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund, to build data capacity for patient-centered outcomes research. She has also held senior researcher positions within the Westat Center for Health Information Technology (IT) and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Preceding her work at Westat and NORC, she led an electronic medical record implementation for five Adventist HealthCare facilities. She also served as Chief Technology Officer and Product Development Executive at the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
In addition to her work in the health and human services sector, Ms. Dymek has directed large scale IT implementations as well as re-engineering and organization effectiveness efforts for the electric utility industry.
Ms. Dymek did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.