Telehealth Center at UAMS Establishes Multi-State Advisory Council, Receives $975,000 Grant
| LITTLE ROCK – The Advisory Council of the South Central Telehealth Resource Center, newly established and composed of 18 members from Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, will meet for the first time May 9. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Distance Health serves as the telehealth resource center for the south central region of the United States.
“The purpose of the advisory board is to give us a feeling for the telehealth initiatives in each of the states as well as give us input on what they need from us as a telehealth resource center,” said Sarah Rhoads Kinder, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “Also, the advisory board will help us to spread the word about the resource center and the online modules we have for education.”
In late 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration renewed grant funding for the center for $975,000 over three years. It funded it for the same amount starting in 2010 when it also designated the UAMS Center for Distance Health as a telehealth resource center.
Representing Arkansas on the Advisory Council are Ray Hanley of Little Rock, president of the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care; Katie Burns of Little Rock, government and regulatory affairs director for CenturyLink; Sip Mouden of Little Rock, CEO of Community Health Center; Luke Kramer, director of Birch Tree Communities in Benton; Jodiane Tritt of Little Rock, vice president of government relations for the Arkansas Hospital Association; and G. Bradley Schaefer, M.D., of Little Rock, chief of the UAMS Division of Genetics.
Six members also serve from Tennessee and six from Mississippi. Members represent telecommunications, primary care associations, mental health services, academic and non-academic hospitals and rural health care organizations.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###