Thomas Jefferson University Takes on Telehealth, mHealth Barriers
The Philadelphia-based university has launched the Jefferson Center for Connected Care, which aims to tackle the digital divide and address the barriers to care that telehealth and mHealth can both cause and conquer.
Source: Getty Images
- Thomas Jefferson University has launched the Jefferson Center for Connected Care, a new effort by one of the East Coast’s leading connected health organizations to take on the barriers to telehealth and mHealth access.
“The pandemic accelerated the trend to virtual care at home, and it showed us how many people are at risk of being left behind as the digital gap grows,” Kristin Rising, MD, MSHP, faculty member in the Philadelphia-based school’s Department of Emergency Medicine in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College and in the College of Nursing and the center’s leader, said in a press release. “We want to conduct the research and provide the training needed to ensure equitable virtual access as medicine uses digital tools to increasingly care for people at home.”
The center’s goals include addressing the so-called digital divide, and Rising is well-versed in taking on that task. Last year, with the help of a federal grant, she launched a Digital Onboarding Taskforce (DOT) aimed at identifying and helping patients learn how to use new technology to access care.