What You Missed at ATA Nexus

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is known for its commitment to ensuring everyone has access to safe, affordable, and appropriate care when and where they need it. At its annual Nexus conference, the ATA helps drive health care transformation with deep-dive sessions, continuing medical education (CME) opportunities, theater sessions, and over 300 speakers. Our telehealth team gathered in Phoenix, AZ, this year to engage in the conversation. 

Here are the key trends we saw at the conference: 

Hybrid Points of Care 

In one session, Cleveland Clinic shared the value of integrating digital touchpoints with in-person care. They walked through an example of a five question follow-up survey they typically send to patients post-surgery that is designed to automatically trigger a virtual visit if risk factors are identified. These seemingly simple digital touchpoints and seamless integrations can have a demonstrable impact on patient outcomes. At Cleveland Clinic, this integrated process reduced readmissions by 8%. Leveraging digital technologies like telehealth and AI to streamline and automate these processes even further can enable providers to dedicate more of their time to seeing patients and making more complex clinical decisions. 

Rural Health Care Access 

One area where telehealth has truly disrupted the industry is rural health care access. At ATA Nexus, industry leaders remained enthusiastic about the ability to scale the quantity and quality of rural care. In one session, Atrium Health shared the particular value of telehealth for expanding access to specialty care in rural settings. Rural communities often are limited to primary care services, and many lack efficient access to health care services overall.  MaineHealth, representing the most rural state in the country, shared another key value of telemedicine: supporting recruiting and addressing staffing challenges. 

AI and Telehealth 

AI was, of course, a large talking point at ATA Nexus. One panel dove into some of the potential hurdles surrounding AI and telehealth adoption, including the upfront investment required and how to measure the efficacy and impact of AI technology. Still, overall, industry leaders were very optimistic about the value of telemedicine and AI’s potential to save clinicians time. In particular, health system leaders were excited by the opportunity AI unlocks to reduce cognitive load and administrative burdens. 

We always find conferences to be a wealth of information and learning for our team. Check out our insights from HIMSS 2024.