2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards

GHP / 2020 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 83 , Leading Providers of High-Risk OB & Sub-Specialty Services – Georgia Women’s Telemedicine is a health organization that saw the potential of telemedicine long before the recent, COVID-19 related boom. They have been bringing healthcare to high-risk obstetrics patients for over ten years, and have continued to push the field and bring it to newheights. Women’s Telehealth is on a mission to provide high-risk obstetric care via modern telehealth technologies. The company is one of the few healthcare organizations providing this service in a variety of settings. They serve both inpatients and outpatients across state lines and internationally. In some places around the world, even in the US, it can be a challenge to get access to experts in maternal-foetal health. Of course, for patients who need access to specialist help, it can be incredibly frustrating and upsetting to not have that access. Telemedicine is a virtual care solution that can be used to significantly decrease maternal and infant mortality rates in areas where classic access is not available. Women’s Telehealth is utilizing telemedicine to give those who need it as much access as possible. Women’s Telehealth and their partners can install telehealth technology and bring to life virtual technologies in communities that otherwise would have no access. Furthermore, Women’s Telehealth, early in the organization’s history, developed a propriety, long-distance training course to advance the skills of ultra-sonographers in remote areas. This is crucially important as only sonographers onsite with the patient can obtain accurate, high-risk images to send to the healthcare provider, but they may Sep20524 not have the extensive training required to deal with situations beyond routine examinations. Women’s Telehealth’s training program has been presented nationally at the American Telemedicine Association. Over their history, the team at Women’s Telehealth have completed over 40,000 high-risk obstetrics appointments and have developed a deep level of experience dealing with all manner of situations. Although based in Atlanta, Georgia, Women’s Telehealth have brought their aid to patients in sub-Saharan Africa, Bangalore, Guatemala and elsewhere around the world. They have been leading the way in telehealth in the ten years since they have been active. Up until COVID-19, telehealth was often seen as a “nice to have” healthcare delivery option, rather than as an integrated tool in the healthcare system. The pandemic thrust telehealth adoption abruptly onto the world stage as a solution to provide care, while decreasing exposure and risk to COVID-19. Tanya Mack of Women’s Telehealth said: “It was amazing to watch the speed of telehealth’s advancement as twenty-plus years of barriers (such as payment, licensure, types of technology, geographic limitations) were lifted or overcome in just a few short weeks. With our years of experience at Women’s Telehealth, we were well- Women’s Telehealth positioned to help out, and are in a good position for the future and years to come to help advance telehealth even further.” Over the years, the largest obstacle to early adopters like Women’s Telehealth was the slow acceptance of telehealth technologies, but now they are seen as crucial components of healthcare. Women’s Telehealth work in a variety of institutions. They are involved with a variety of national strategic partners, vendors and hospital systems, but strive to keep themselves neutral and independent. They work with government outpatient clinics and private obstetrics practices. Initially, the organization focussed on rural health areas, bringing aid to those without more privileged infrastructure, but as their reach grew, they came to cover roughly 50% rural and 50% urban areas. It is through their innovations in telemedicine that Women’s Telehealth has really shone as a sub-specialty service. They have partnered with Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, in a joint research project involving using the university’s artificial intelligence and research team alongside Women’s Telehealth’s extensive maternal-foetal medicine image data for early identification of placental abnormalities. They are generating never-before-seen findings in the high-risk obstetrics population that will lead to earlier intervention and improved mother-baby outcomes. For over a decade, Women’s Telemedicine has been bringing vital care and high-risk obstetrics support to those who may otherwise not have been able to receive help. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has woken the world up to the benefits of telemedicine, Women’s Telemedicine are well placed to lead the industry and continue bringing exemplary aid to those who need it. Contact: Tanya Mack Company: Women’s Telehealth Website: www.womenstelehealth.com