Editorial Historical Manifestations!
Charles R. Doarn, MBA, FATA, and Ronald C. Merrell, MD, FATA Editors-in-Chief
I
t has only been a few months since many of us gathered in Los Angeles, CA, for the 20th annual American Telemedicine Association (ATA) meeting, but what an impression it made. The attendance eclipsed 5,000, making it the largest ATA meeting in history. Aside from fascinating speakers and the wonderful trade show component, the scientific sessions were outstanding! From this Journal’s perspective, there were several high-quality research initiatives presented that will grace the pages of this Journal very soon. The annual sojourn to the ATA meeting provides an opportunity to network with colleagues, see the old and the new technological innovations, and learn something new. You know an association has made it when several of the vendors are selling items that have no relation to the purpose of the annual ATA meeting. Think skin cream and credit card processing firms! This, of course, means that we have made it. The 20 years of the Association’s growth has been astounding. Telemedicine in 1993, at the Mayo Clinic meeting where we elected the first ATA officers, was much different. Attendance was measured in very low numbers at three different sites: Rochester, MN; Scottsdale, AZ; and Jacksonville, FL. Most people did not have a cell phone, and only a handful of vendors was present. As we have said in previous editorials, mobility, bandwidth, computing power, sensors, and other innovations are completely different today, and they are driving significant change. New ways of thinking and new ways of doing. This is where the historical manifestations arise! The growth of the Association and its annual meeting, concomitant with the growth of this Journal, an official journal of the ATA, has made historical implications in healthcare delivery and education worldwide. The steady growth in research initiatives and the reported outcomes have led to an historic shift in how medicine is practiced. It is not just a blip or aberration—telemedicine has actually become a generally discussed term and approach to healthcare in the halls of Congress and within the overall health system nationwide. That’s historical! During the meeting in Los Angeles, two events occurred that are of historical importance. One is that the Journal editors, through Liebert Publishing, awarded the best manuscript for 2014 to Dr. Rashid Bashshur. The manuscript, entitled ‘‘The Empirical Foundations of Telemedicine Interventions for Chronic Disease Management,’’ has been a pretty impressive scholarly piece used by Washington, DC policy makers and legislators.1 Although other manuscripts from this
DOI: 10.1089/tmj.2015.29000
Journal have also been used, this particular manuscript has seen a huge number of downloads, which is historic. In addition, all of the previous Presidents of the ATA and this Journal’s editors helped establish and then endorsed the ATA’s first ‘‘Life Time Distinguished Service Award,’’ which was presented to Dr. Bashshur in Los Angeles. This was in recognition for his contributions to the field. This is also historic. A recent conversation with colleagues enlightens us to think of and to postulate how medicine and healthcare will evolve in the coming decades. Will we be doing things the same way with newer tools, or will we be doing drastically different things? The continued evolving technology makes a strong argument for change, and many of the barriers are being removed. But there is still an underlying fear of change! This too shall be overcome! That will be historic as well!
A Little News About This Issue As we process new submissions to the Journal, we are challenged with an increase in the numbers, and with the growth also come the hard decisions of rejection. It is our intent to remain focused on telemedicine, telehealth, and e-health. As such, we may very well reject very good manuscripts, but that will help the Journal be the best in this field. The time from acceptance to actual publication is now measured in shorter intervals of 1–2 months. Although accepted manuscripts appear online very soon, it still requires months for them to appear in print. The rigorous peer review and processes that we have developed and deployed provide a great tool for the authors to share their work. In this issue, most of the manuscripts appeared online in March 2015 and have been readily available to researchers. These manuscripts cover a wide range of subjects, including child telepsychiatry, speech language pathology using iPads, telemedicine and cancer patients, telemedicine and veterans, and several that highlight mobile devices. Each of these manuscripts provides excellent data on the utility and utilization, enabling better healthcare. We look forward to continued growth! Let’s all make a little history!
REFERENCE 1. Bashshur RL, Shannon GW, Smith BR—Contributing Authors: Alverson D, Antoniotti N, Barsan W, Bashshur N, Brown EM, Coye MJ, Doarn CR, Ferguson S, Grigsby J, Krupinski EA, Kvedar JC, Linkous J, Merrell RC, Nesbitt T, Poropatich R, Rheuban K, Sanders J, Watson A, Weinstein RS, Yellowlees P. The empirical foundations of telemedicine interventions for chronic disease management. Telemed J E Health 2014;20:769–800.
ª M A R Y A N N L I E B E R T , I N C . VOL. 21
NO. 7 JULY 2015
TELEMEDICINE and e-HEALTH 521
Charles R. Doarn, MBA, FATA, and Ronald C. Merrell, MD, FATA Editors-in-Chief
I
t has only been a few months since many of us gathered in Los Angeles, CA, for the 20th annual American Telemedicine Association (ATA) meeting, but what an impression it made. The attendance eclipsed 5,000, making it the largest ATA meeting in history. Aside from fascinating speakers and the wonderful trade show component, the scientific sessions were outstanding! From this Journal’s perspective, there were several high-quality research initiatives presented that will grace the pages of this Journal very soon. The annual sojourn to the ATA meeting provides an opportunity to network with colleagues, see the old and the new technological innovations, and learn something new. You know an association has made it when several of the vendors are selling items that have no relation to the purpose of the annual ATA meeting. Think skin cream and credit card processing firms! This, of course, means that we have made it. The 20 years of the Association’s growth has been astounding. Telemedicine in 1993, at the Mayo Clinic meeting where we elected the first ATA officers, was much different. Attendance was measured in very low numbers at three different sites: Rochester, MN; Scottsdale, AZ; and Jacksonville, FL. Most people did not have a cell phone, and only a handful of vendors was present. As we have said in previous editorials, mobility, bandwidth, computing power, sensors, and other innovations are completely different today, and they are driving significant change. New ways of thinking and new ways of doing. This is where the historical manifestations arise! The growth of the Association and its annual meeting, concomitant with the growth of this Journal, an official journal of the ATA, has made historical implications in healthcare delivery and education worldwide. The steady growth in research initiatives and the reported outcomes have led to an historic shift in how medicine is practiced. It is not just a blip or aberration—telemedicine has actually become a generally discussed term and approach to healthcare in the halls of Congress and within the overall health system nationwide. That’s historical! During the meeting in Los Angeles, two events occurred that are of historical importance. One is that the Journal editors, through Liebert Publishing, awarded the best manuscript for 2014 to Dr. Rashid Bashshur. The manuscript, entitled ‘‘The Empirical Foundations of Telemedicine Interventions for Chronic Disease Management,’’ has been a pretty impressive scholarly piece used by Washington, DC policy makers and legislators.1 Although other manuscripts from this
DOI: 10.1089/tmj.2015.29000
Journal have also been used, this particular manuscript has seen a huge number of downloads, which is historic. In addition, all of the previous Presidents of the ATA and this Journal’s editors helped establish and then endorsed the ATA’s first ‘‘Life Time Distinguished Service Award,’’ which was presented to Dr. Bashshur in Los Angeles. This was in recognition for his contributions to the field. This is also historic. A recent conversation with colleagues enlightens us to think of and to postulate how medicine and healthcare will evolve in the coming decades. Will we be doing things the same way with newer tools, or will we be doing drastically different things? The continued evolving technology makes a strong argument for change, and many of the barriers are being removed. But there is still an underlying fear of change! This too shall be overcome! That will be historic as well!
A Little News About This Issue As we process new submissions to the Journal, we are challenged with an increase in the numbers, and with the growth also come the hard decisions of rejection. It is our intent to remain focused on telemedicine, telehealth, and e-health. As such, we may very well reject very good manuscripts, but that will help the Journal be the best in this field. The time from acceptance to actual publication is now measured in shorter intervals of 1–2 months. Although accepted manuscripts appear online very soon, it still requires months for them to appear in print. The rigorous peer review and processes that we have developed and deployed provide a great tool for the authors to share their work. In this issue, most of the manuscripts appeared online in March 2015 and have been readily available to researchers. These manuscripts cover a wide range of subjects, including child telepsychiatry, speech language pathology using iPads, telemedicine and cancer patients, telemedicine and veterans, and several that highlight mobile devices. Each of these manuscripts provides excellent data on the utility and utilization, enabling better healthcare. We look forward to continued growth! Let’s all make a little history!
REFERENCE 1. Bashshur RL, Shannon GW, Smith BR—Contributing Authors: Alverson D, Antoniotti N, Barsan W, Bashshur N, Brown EM, Coye MJ, Doarn CR, Ferguson S, Grigsby J, Krupinski EA, Kvedar JC, Linkous J, Merrell RC, Nesbitt T, Poropatich R, Rheuban K, Sanders J, Watson A, Weinstein RS, Yellowlees P. The empirical foundations of telemedicine interventions for chronic disease management. Telemed J E Health 2014;20:769–800.
ª M A R Y A N N L I E B E R T , I N C . VOL. 21
NO. 7 JULY 2015
TELEMEDICINE and e-HEALTH 521
