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  • Jan 17, 2021

    PAVMT: 2020 Year in Review

    PAVMT
    To Our Members:
    Happy New Year! In so many ways, 2020 has been a year like no other. We started the year with a mission to bring more awareness to telemedicine and PAs working in the same. We knew that utilization and trust in telemedicine were going to be an area of much-needed advocacy and education for our PA colleagues. We couldn’t have imagined the explosion in the use of telemedicine we would see just a few months later. Thankfully, telemedicine has proven itself to be an invaluable tool in allowing us to serve patients near and far while keeping both patients and providers safer. Now, more than ever, people across the world have recognized what we have known for years - Telemedicine is an essential part of healthcare and is here to stay.

    While our membership option launched in May, your PAVMT board has been working throughout the year to ensure that PAs have a seat at the table in the telemedicine discussion. From legislative pushes, direct employer outreach, education opportunities, and targeted telemedicine-specific member resources and discounts on essential services, we’ve been diligently working to make telemedicine a place where PAs can not only practice but lead.

    Below you’ll find a summary of our accomplishments this year. In the new year, we are committed to continuing our work in representing you, our members, in the telemedicine space and to providing more valuable resources to you. We thank all of you for your support during this last year as we cannot do this without our members. If you are hoping to become more involved, we welcome your engagement in helping drive our professional telemedicine progress in the coming year!!

    Despite the tremendous gains and growth in telemedicine this year, so many of our colleagues have lost family, friends, or coworkers to this pandemic. We grieve with you and send our heartfelt condolences. If you are celebrating - whatever you’re celebrating - we wish you the very happiest and safest holidays and a happy new year. With hopeful optimism, we look forward to an even more successful year for PAVMT - and our profession - in 2021.


    Best,

    Amanda Shelley, MPAS, PA-C
    President and Co-Founder
    PAs in Virtual Medicine and Telemedicine
     
    Advocacy:
    • ​Supported and spearheaded a national petition to grant PAs Full Practice Authority to function as Licensed Independent Practitioners in Federal Jurisdictions
    • Lead the AAPA telemedicine ad hoc committee under AAPA board president David Mittman
    • Lead the 5-year AAPA/HOD telemedicine policy paper review
    • Achieved caucus status in the AAPA and now represent PAVMT in the HOD
    • PA Telemed Company Directory- support PAs
    • Using various social media platforms to engage

    Legislation:
    • The PAVMT Legislative Affairs co-chair, Christi Dahlgren and Melinda Gottschalk, have continued to monitor legislative issues that directly affect telemedicine PAs.
    • PA Dahlgren continues to maintain a license and legislative database, but she needs your help. If you hear of a legislative change that would affect telemedicine or license portability, please let us know. This database is a valuable resource for all and with your help, we can keep it accurate and up to date.
    • PA Gottschalk follows the PA license portability feasibility project, stemming from a grant the FSMB secured for the purpose. COVID-19 stalled the process for a while. However, the FSMB is again working with AAPA to explore the possibility of initiating the process.

    Education:

    • We've introduced our first course to PA students worldwide!
    • For the “Fall Semester” of 2020, we talked about various telemedicine types (asynchronous/asynchronous/artificial intelligence/remote patient monitoring, etc.)
    • We worked thru famous patient cases to come up with our final diagnosis via telemedicine. Our patient list included( but are not limited to):
      -Janet Jackson diagnosed with migraine headaches
      -Bennett Omalu diagnosed with a Concussion
      -Geneva Glass diagnosed with Meningitis
      -Madra Rowe diagnosed with Viral Conjunctivitis
      -Bob Barker diagnosed with Amarousis fugax - rule out TIA/Stroke
      -Katy Perry diagnosed with UTI
      -Amy Schumer diagnosed with Lyme disease
      -Alexander Hamilton diagnosed with Shingles
      At the end of each case, students could incorporate what they learned and practice with PANCE style questions.
    • Under Jan McCaleb's leadership, we helped Duquesne University Clinical PA Students graduate on time by serving as their clinical preceptors (Special thank you to those volunteers who helped!)
    • We've launched Sarah Purdy, PA-C's series regarding telemedicine startups. Two of our PAs - Hina Mazharuddin PA-C and Tara Iacono PA-C - have proudly launched our first accredited CME course for PAs: Foundations of Telemedicine, link below. 
    • We've collaborated with the University of Lynchburg
      DMSc Telehealth Certificate so that PAVMT members get a 10% discount.
    • Webinars have been launched regarding topics such as RPM, malpractice, multistate licensing.

    Employment:

    • Our internal job board for members only is now LIVE!
    • We partnered with BlocHealth to help PAs streamline multistate licensure.
    • Spoke to numerous telemedicine employers about equity in PA hiring and expanded PA opportunities.
    • Successfully negotiated several large scale PA employment opportunities with telemedicine organizations.

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