A Powerful Partnership - Senior Housing and Telemedicine

ATA 2008 - Largest, Most Comprehensive Meeting Ever

The Thirteenth Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) was held in Seattle, WA, April 6-8, 2008. The meeting was filled with presentations, exhibits, and networking among a diverse group of almost 2,500 attendees, a record attendance that included individuals from every state in the U.S. and 35 countries. The University of South Florida offered Continuing Education Credits for meeting attendees. Reflecting the growing and diverse interest in telemedicine, the meeting included over 462 peer-reviewed oral and poster presentations covering a wide range of topics. The exhibit hall covered more than 100,000 square feet and provided attendees with a view of over 2,000 products and services from 185 exhibitors.

The ATA Annual Meeting also served as a venue for other related meetings and activities among a wide range of organizations, including the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), the Appalachian Regional Commission, the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Continua Healthcare Alliance, the Canadian Society for Telehealth, the Universal Services Administrative Corporation, the Four Corners Telehealth Consortium and the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center. The Mobile Health Clinics Network held their Fourth Annual Mobile Health Clinics Forum in conjunction with ATA, attracting more than 200 attendees and occupying more than 1200 square feet of exhibit space. The Annual Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) meeting focused on personal health monitoring, diverse training courses and federal agency workshops.

A complete summary of the meeting is available at http://www.americantelemed.org/conf/2008/overview.htm. Pictures from the meeting are available on the front page of ATA's web site at: www.americantelemed.org.

Planning for next year's annual meeting is already underway. ATA 2009 will be held April 26-28, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nearly 75% of the exhibit floor has already been sold for the meeting. The Call for Presentations will be announced in June.

Savvy senior housing executives should put this conference on their "must attend" list. As the age-in-place trend continues, and many seniors choose to stay in their primary residence longer, the senior housing industry needs to more fully embrace the use of technology for remote monitoring, wellness management, and disease management.

It's time to forge some strong bonds between the top providers in telemedicine and senior housing. It just makes good business sense for both industries -- mainly because we both serve the same end customer.

BB