HomeTown Health & the National School of Applied Telehealth Partner with the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth to Provide TeleHealth Certifications

HomeTown Health, in partnership with the National School of Applied Telehealth, has partnered with The New College Institute (NCI) and the University of Virginia (UVA) Center for Telehealth to launch the first telehealth certification program in the state of Virginia.

“We are very excited to partner with the NCI and UVA in providing online education, training and certifications for their program. The future of healthcare most certainly integrates telemedicine and telehealth, and we are proud to be a part of educating certified healthcare leaders in this field,” says Kristy Thomson, HTHU Director of Education.

The new Southside Telehealth Training Academy and Resource Center (STAR) offers training for health care providers to become certified as telehealth presenters or coordinators.

"Great things happen when people work together toward a common goal," said Dr. Karen Rheuban, Director of the UVA Center for Telehealth. “Training healthcare workers to use telehealth and patient monitoring technologies will aid them in providing high-quality care and service to their patients, In many cases, telemedicine enables patients to stay within their local community or hospital setting without having to travel. And it provides an opportunity for our university physicians to serve patients who might not be able to receive treatment otherwise,” added Rheuban.

Utilizing two of the three available certifications from the National School of Applied Telehealth, http://www.nationalschoolofappliedtelehealth.com, the STAR program offers two tracks: one for clinicians, to help them conduct virtual encounters between patients and doctors; and one for non-clinicians, to help them manage and operate telehealth programs and equipment.

“When considering the scope of healthcare and the various components it takes to deliver quality services, STAR not only offers training for clinicians, but administrators, IT professionals, and office personnel as well,” stated NCI Executive Director William Wampler.

Successful completion of the program will result in a Certificate as either a Telemedicine Clinical Presenter/Technology Professional or a Telehealth Coordinator/Technology Professional through the National School of Applied Telehealth.

Launched in 2011, NSAT provides education in the form of the 3 telehealth/telemedicine certifications to Telehealth professionals in more than 32 different states and 3 different countries. Formed as part of an educational outreach program between the Global Partnership for Telehealth (formally Georgia Partnership for Telehealth) and the Southeastern Telehealth Resources Center, the National School of Applied Telehealth provides education from a collaboration of telemedicine and telehealth practitioners and providers.

Rena Brewer, RN, MA, Director, SE Telehealth Resource Center states, “The NSAT courses are meeting an educational need of those healthcare workers who have no telehealth experience and are being asked to set up and implement telehealth programs in their health care settings. We are proud to offer them the resources to start successful programs and be successful employees.”

This year through the partnership with the STAR program, the first 250 registrants working or living in Virginia will have the opportunity to complete certifications tuition-free through June 30, 2014. To learn more about STAR programs, including course descriptions and enrollment, please visit http://www.startelehealth.org.