UAMS Physician Champions ANGELS at Politico Health Care Panel
| July 6, 2016 | UAMS obstetrician Curtis Lowery, M.D., spoke of the impact a UAMS telemedicine program has had on the care of high-risk pregnancies in Arkansas at a Politico health care panel June 9 in Washington, D.C.
Lowery, chair of the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, outlined how ANGELS, a program in the UAMS Center for Distance Health, has allowed women in rural Arkansas to receive adequate, efficient care near their homes.
ANGELS provides a 24-hour hotline, a referral system for patients and case management that includes maternal-fetal medicine consults, detailed fetal ultrasounds and genetic counseling that can be performed at UAMS or at remote sites through telemedicine.
Lowery was joined on the panel by Ravi Ramani (middle), M.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Integrated Heart Failure program, and Rebecca Schnall (second from right), Ph.D., R.N., an assistant professor in the Columbia University School of Nursing. Moderators were Politico executive editor for health care Joanne Kenen (left) and Politico eHealth editor Arthur Allen (right). (Photo by Rod Lamkey Jr.)
“We’re able to support practitioners in rural areas through education and learning and be available to patients when they need care,” said Lowery, who is also director and founder of ANGELS (Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System).
Lowery was one of three health care professionals to take part in the panel, part of Politico’s “Outside, In: Bringing Health Home: Tech and Patient-Centered Care” at the W Hotel. More than 100 people attended and the panel was streamed online.
He was joined by Ravi Ramani, M.D., director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Integrated Heart Failure program, and Rebecca Schnall, Ph.D., R.N., an assistant professor in the Columbia University School of Nursing.
The panel discussed heart failure, high-risk pregnancies and complications, and HIV and how telemedicine plays a role in providing care.
“We were able to demonstrate how ANGELS, one of the oldest and largest telemedicine programs in the country, has been able to provide care to under-served areas in Arkansas,” said Lowery. “I think it’s important for ANGELS to describe how we made a difference in the lives of pregnant women throughout the state by using a safe, tele-health application of care.”
ANGELS is a partnership between UAMS, the state Department of Human Services and the Arkansas Medical Society.