Lugar Center Staff Invited to Discussion on Telehealth in D.C.

Stephanie Laws and Hicham Rahmouni were invited to attend a roundtable discussion at the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) in Washington, D.C. The roundtable’s focus specifically, Lessons Learned: Developing Strong Telehealth Networks and Contributing to the Telehealth Evidence Base. Stephanie and Hicham contributed to the FORHP’s discussion from lessons learned from the Evidence Based Telehealth Network Grant Program (EB-TNGP) which encompasses local rural area hospitals.

The EB-TNGP continues to gather data from hospitals within the network and contributing it to a national study at the Rural Telehealth Research Center at the University of Iowa. Through the EB-TNGP local area hospitals now can consult with specialists in the fields of Behavioral Health and Neurology for patients who present at the emergency department with symptoms outside the scope of the attending physician. The study will contribute evidence as to the practicality and affordability of telehealth in the emergency department.