Five Reasons A Clinician Should Attend ATA’s Annual Conference

CME conferences are great. You get to see old friends and meet new colleagues in your field. But often CME conferences have topics centered around traditional healthcare. Also, after being in healthcare for a decade, the topics are familiar and unless you’re in academia and research, probably not always that impactful on your medical practice day-to-day.

The ATA (American Telemedicine Association) conference, along with offering some qualifying CME sessions, is made up of more broad topic discussions, meant to bring value to many different industry roles and professionals.  The ATA Annual Conference offers disruptive, equitable, and sustainable digital health innovation conversations, often inspiring new ways to imagine how traditional healthcare is delivered and how patients and providers engage.

The ATA just announced that their 27th annual American Telemedicine Conference and Expo will be March 5-7, 2023 in San Antonio, TX (Check out our list of healthcare it conferences), I wanted to share some of my experience as a clinician attending the event.  Read on to see why you should attend.

1. Get the most up to date info about telehealth reimbursement and digital health care policy

Are your patients asking for telehealth but so far you are having a hard time justifying its sustainable place in your practice?  2022 ATA’s annual conference had sessions discussing the barriers and successes to implementation and adoption of telemedicine and digital health under traditional revenue models.  I heard about examples of where digital health currently is being reimbursed well and where it is struggling to be cost effective along with the many factors to consider when applying to different practice models.

Economically, it is essential to weigh the reliability of universal payment for digital health services or technology and the ROI and health outcome benefit they realistically have for patients, providers, and practices since especially in primary care, profit margins can be very slim.   One thing I felt was stressed often was that telehealth & digital health reimbursement often can only improve through healthcare policy change and modernizing state medical practice law as CMS is usually the reference for most payers.

The ATA is an active leader in defining digital health and telemedicine and best practices on implementation, reimbursement, and sustainability.  Many of the sessions at the 2022 ATA conference were centered around the role that entrepreneurs, government, policymakers, patients, providers, executives, and industry leaders play for the necessary changes to occur in health care policy especially when it comes to reimbursement and practice standards.  Sessions encouraged those in the industry to participate as a collective to help secure telemedicine’s role in all practices moving forward so that patients have equitable options to engage in their health.

At this past year’s conference, I connected with the policy team at the ATA and learned that they often find passionate clinicians and help empower their voices in federal and state policy initiatives.  I personally can attest to the impact of mobilizing clinicians in health care policy decisions and using their experience in healthcare to advocate for equitable care and inform/support their state and federal representatives in making informed decisions on a policy level.

Let’s face it, if providers aren’t advocating for our patients access to telemedicine, legislators might not think that it’s important to make permanent space for it.  Because these conferences are focused on digital health and telemedicine, you will likely connect with those who are in healthcare policy and can educate you on how to participate and inform you on changes that might affect your practices bottom line and your patient’s care.

2. Digital health is cool.

Get to see the amazing technology, geek out and imagine what the future may look like, not only for our patients, but also for providers.  The outlook right now on your day-to-day work environment may be a stressful thought, full of everyday obstacles to provide a good health care experience for both patient and provider.  At the ATA conference, you can step outside of that perspective.  You can imagine the future of healthcare with examples of disruptive innovation and exciting alternative ways to deliver medicine and dream of a better overall experience leveraging new types of engagement patients can have with their providers.

Especially if you’re interested in optimizing telehealth to your own practice, this is the place to get the inside scoop on all the user experiences of many different products integrated or independent of your EMR.  You may be surprised to see what technology is possible and be inspired.

One thing to also consider: believe it or not but you don’t have to have to always go with your EMR’s solution or have all your software integrated. Let’s face it, many clinicians were using FaceTime and Google Meet as our telehealth video technology during the pandemic and it got the job done.  Another thing to consider is that not only are there telehealth solutions at the ATA conference.  The ATA conference hosts a broad array of digital health exhibitors including hardware, software, advocacy organizations, and consulting services.  I was shocked at some of the innovation that was represented in the exhibitor hall.

3. Adopt a new community, find mentorship and professional opportunity.

If you have been toying with the idea of trading in your clinical hat for a role in digital health, you are likely to find other clinicians at the ATA annual conference that did just that and are looking to help mentor others. When I decided to transition from clinical day-to-day practice into the digital health space, especially during the pandemic, I felt isolated and unsure where to start.  I did not initially have a large community of colleagues that made a transition into digital health and it took a lot of searching and networking to finally grow my network.

One way of getting a great head start on building your knowledge base and your professional network would be by attending the ATA’s annual conference and meeting with likeminded individuals and examples of clinicians that have made the transition successfully.  With all the options online but limited time to spend navigating the content and community forums, the community that attends the ATA conference is welcoming, supportive, and energetic.  There is no doubt you will find a large community that will embrace your interest and connect with you.

4. Get to play with cool technology and provide your feedback to their designers.

Not only will you get to learn more about the digital health products themselves, but you might end up in a conversation with the person who created it and provide valuable feedback or get a chance to strike a deal to try the technology in your practice as a pilot.  As a clinician who has been approached to use new medication or treatment technology, I always hesitated and needed to really understand the product.  Who has time throughout their clinical day to really get the time to ask all your questions and usually they want to set up another meeting to show you the actual product.

At the ATA conference, you are surrounded by superusers and early adopters of these products and get to interact with often the people who created and tested the product.  An additional benefit is you will bring a great deal of knowledge back to share with your patients and colleagues.  Who knows, you might even find a product you will want to try now and be able to work out a good deal.

5. Find an opportunity for a side hustle or a full-time position in digital health.

One thing that I was impressed to see is the level of interest and emphasis on having clinicians to help lead the development and improvement of digital health technology. Let’s face it, we are often the super users they are designing for.  Digital health solutions are often inspired by a person who encountered a problem as a patient or caregiver and unfortunately their organization may consist of mostly technology specialists and business experts with little clinical experience or frontline industry knowledge.  They are passionate about a problem and are determined to solve it.

It is important to highlight that clinicians are essential and an asset to a digital health organization given their skillset, healthcare experience, and deep understanding of both the health care industry and patient behavior.  Clinicians can direct product strategy for successful adoption and implementation into a practice, help identify new value propositions, and ultimately provide a testing environment in their practice.

At the ATA conference, I met with many company leaders.  I observed many opportunities for a clinician to connect with an entrepreneur or an organization whey they may end up inspired to consider transitioning into product development, implementation design, or becoming a subject matter expert for their team.  As a clinician, keep your mind open to these opportunities and don’t hesitate to have conversations about what role a clinician can play in these organizations.  You might be surprised to find out who these companies are currently using for medical direction and their knowledge of the industry they are solving for.

Lastly, some advice.

I encourage clinicians, if they are interested in helping digital health organizations, to propose a partnership and lead the discussion on the value of their expertise.  Entrepreneurs can come across curious with clinicians and gaining valuable insights that lead to their own product profitability.  Recognize you might be inadvertently saving them the time and cost of finding a SME or paying for a consultant to help them by providing your advice and acknowledge your insights and time has a value.

Advocate for yourself and recognize that giving your feedback to improve a product for patient/industry improvement is not something to be undervalued and that your time can and should be compensated for.  You may end up finding a new opportunity to play a different role in health care that may also impact the lives of more than you could as a traditional clinician and help shape the future of health care.   Undoubtably, connecting with a network of digital health clinicians is valuable when exploring these opportunities further, so I hope to see you at the next conference or reach out if you are interested in getting connected.

About the author

Sara Gallo, PA-C, MMS

Sara Gallo PA-C, MMS is a physician assistant with over 10 years of primary care experience specializing in value-based care, telehealth, patient centered medical home, and population management. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she designed and implemented telehealth services for her private practice including 10 providers and over 14,000 patients. Since then she has made it her personal mission to advocate for inclusive design, implementation, and adoption of digital health solutions prioritizing experience for both patients and healthcare providers. She has transitioned from clinical practice to multiple leadership roles over the last 2 years including Program Manager, Digital Health consultant, and is currently Vice President of Clinical Services for Care on Location, a 100% virtual clinical practice continuing to see patients via telehealth and build solutions to close access gaps for the safety-net community.

   

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