Telehealth News

MUSC to Create a National Pediatric Telehealth Research Network

The Medical University of South Carolina, one of two National Telehealth Centers of Excellence, is getting a $3.6 million federal grant to create a national research network for studying pediatric telehealth programs.

Source: ThinkStock

By Eric Wicklund

- The Medical University of South Carolina will be using a $3.6 million federal grant to create a national database for pediatric telehealth research and best practices.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the five-year grant to MUSC, one of two National Telehealth Centers of Excellence, to expand the Supporting Pediatric Research on Outcomes and Utilization of Telehealth (SPROUT) program, which was launched in 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The money will be used to create a national pediatric telehealth research network that focuses on “supporting the development of telehealth research efforts, metric development, identification of best practices and the development of collaborative policy and advocacy materials.”

“This is a huge step forward in the development of safe and impactful telehealth programs across the country,” S. David McSwain, MD, a physician with MUSC Children’s Health, associate professor of pediatric critical care and chief medical information officer, said in a press release. “Academic research into the real impact of telehealth services is a critical component of developing and growing programs with the greatest potential to improve our health care system. Many physicians and other health care providers are hesitant about incorporating telehealth into their practices because it’s difficult to separate the theoretical benefits from the real value.”

“Research into the real impact of telehealth services is a critical part of developing and growing programs with the greatest potential to improve our health care system,” McSwain, who helped to launch the SPROUT program, said in a separate story about the grant. “Many doctors and other health care providers are hesitant about incorporating telehealth into their practices because it’s difficult to separate the theoretical benefits from the real value.”

Also named in the grant are the AAP, University of Colorado -Children’s Hospital Colorado, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Mercy Clinic in St. Louis.

“At the national level, there is no academic authority currently spearheading multicenter telehealth research studies,” Christina Olson, MD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado-Children’s Hospital Colorado, said in the release. “We have piecemeal efforts happening in terms of research, national policy development and payer guidelines. This network will provide tools, resources and guidance to accelerate the development of telehealth studies across the country. We will support champions of telehealth to become champions of research as well.”

Those involved with the program say the funding will enable them to create a central database of pediatric telehealth programs.

“When we started SPROUT, we realized that we couldn’t conduct studies on pediatric telehealth unless we actually knew which institutions were providing which types of services,” John Chuo, MD, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at CHOP and co-chair of SPROUT,” said in the MUSC press release. “That information wasn’t readily available, so we made it our first investigation.” 

The NIH grant is awarded through the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Science (NCATS). It’s designed to create what officials call “an easily accessible support structure around telehealth research” that offers resources for current and future projects.

“We have to ensure that children have access to every type of care that they need at the right time, no matter where they live,” Alison Curfman, MD, Mercy Virtual’s medical director of pediatrics, said in the release. “The technology is here. The commitment of the early-adopters is here. Our next frontier is proving to other pediatric providers across the health care spectrum that telehealth is about so much more than convenience.”

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