The Office of Emerging Health Technologies at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine received the Innovator Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board at the “Rising Together: Summit on the Rural South Conference” at the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort in Point Clear, Ala., on June 12, 2005. The award was presented by Alabama Governor Bob Riley.
The USA Office of Emerging Health Technologies was honored and recognized for its work in designing, testing and deploying novel solutions to meet the medical needs of the chronically ill in rural Alabama.
USA’s program, which began in 1998 as a telemedicine program, began an initiative providing low-cost deployable technology directly to the patient’s homes using standard telephone lines. In 2001, this effort known as “bio trac,” linked home-based clinical monitoring of patients blood pressure, weight and blood sugar, back to a database in the physician’s office, providing daily management of a patient’s health status.
In addition to forming strong relationships with the patients, the program has also formed a number of strong alliances with health care vendors, payors and providers. As a result, the program received a statewide Medicaid contract allowing for expansion of services to all of Alabama.
Every year, Southern Growth Policies Board honors innovative Southern initiatives for efforts that are improving the quality of life in the region. One award is given to each of it’s member states-Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This year the award focused on rural development.
For more information please contact USA’s Office of Emerging Health Technologies at (251) - 461-1810 or visit
http://www.southalabama.edu/emergingtech .
Office of Emerging Health Technologies Receives the Innovator Award
