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**[Request:]{.underline} Date: 1/21/05**

I have two postings I wonder if you could make for us onto the NCHN
listerv.\
\
**1) If any projects have worked with a good Health Information
Technology consultant, could they provide contact information and any
comments on their experience?\
**\
Dora Ward Kyabu\
Georgia Health Policy Center\
Phone: 404-6511535 Fax: 404-651-3147 Email: <dwardkyabu@gsu.edu>

**[Responses:]{.underline}**

1.  Triggerfish Technologies of St. Joseph, MO, is assisting our
    community health center through a timeline for implementation of a
    new practice management software system and EMR.  The company, led
    by Justin Copeland, is knowledgable and customer friendly.  The
    phone #:  (816) 676-0434. 

\- Alan Freeman, FACHE, executive director, Big Springs Medical
Association, Ellington, MO.

2.  Meet Bill Sontaire from Valor Solutions in Minneapolis \-- RHA has
    worked with Bill on HIPAA requirements.  Bill has extensive HIT
    experience and has worked with a variety of health care providers
    (rural, metro/urban, multispecialty clinics, etc.).  He is currently
    working with the MN Cooperative on their large federal grant.  I
    don\'t know his availability, but highly regard his capabilities. 

> \- Erik Malchow, Rural Health Alliance, 320-762-8602,
> <malchow@charter.net>

3.  In answer to your inquiry about IT---depending what the purpose is,
    I suggest you take a look at the CERMUSA website, etc. This may be a
    possibility. (Info below)

\- Gary Sauers, E-mail: <GSauers@jcblair.org>

** **

** **

**Vicki Pendleton, R.N., BSN, MMS**  

Telemedicine Development Specialist

Saint Francis University

Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas

PO Box 600

Loretto, PA  15940

 (814) 472-3389

<vpendleton@cermusa.francis.edu>  

 [http://www.cermusa.org](http://www.cermusa.org/)  

**  **

**Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas 
CERMUSA**

 

[http://www.cermusa.org](http://www.cermusa.org/) 

The Center of Excellence for Remote & Medically Under-Served Areas
(CERMUSA) improves medical care and education in remote or medically
under-served areas. Utilizing appropriate and available technology,
CERMUSA builds, demonstrates, tests, and evaluates prototypes providing
healthcare services and education to identify \"best practices.

 

**CERMUSA Mission Statement**

 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|      The Center of Excellence for Remote & Medically Under-Served     |
| Areas (CERMUSA) was conceived in response to the need for improved    |
| medical care and education in remote or medically under-served areas. |
| CERMUSA was established as a testing, evaluation, demonstration and   |
| assessment center for identifying \"best practices\" in providing     |
| healthcare services and education utilizing appropriate, available    |
| technology. The research agenda includes tracking noteworthy projects |
| and emerging technologies and conducting experiments in specially     |
| created electronic classrooms and computer laboratories. The \"best   |
| practices\" anticipated to be identified were in areas related to     |
| training and education, telemedicine, and technological support for   |
| healthcare providers and potential providers in remote, medically     |
| under-served areas.                                                   |
|                                                                       |
| *\...a research organization that provides*                           |
|                                                                       |
| *\                                                                    |
| **sustainable healthcare and education solutions ***                  |
|                                                                       |
|     The development of \"**Best Practices Models**\" carries          |
| important implications for the future development of alternative      |
| curricula and healthcare delivery systems. This will support the      |
| education and training of civilian and military personnel in the      |
| healthcare sciences and will help to address telemedical solutions to |
| reduce professional isolation. Using the physician assistant          |
| educational framework as part of the demonstration model, best        |
| practices for the delivery of the curriculum to students at distant   |
| sites was the singularly important element in the wide scope of this  |
| project.\                                                             |
| \                                                                     |
|     The explosion of computer technologies and the emergence of new   |
| training and educational concepts has resulted in numerous            |
| opportunities for telemedicine and distance learning. To effectively  |
| match technology to medical and educational needs, CERMUSA utilizes   |
| the best practices model in the design and development of its         |
| operational prototypes. Whether serving a rural hospital or a         |
| patient\'s home, technology is selected to facilitate the delivery of |
| medical and educational services. All modalities, including the basic |
| telephone system, are considered in the design of operational         |
| prototypes to assure that the technology mix is applicable,           |
| available, affordable and reliable. CERMUSA believes that effectively |
| matching communications technology to medical and educational needs   |
| is the greatest challenge.                                            |
|                                                                       |
| ***\...developing sustainable solutions to\                           |
| meet user requirements and capabilities***                            |
|                                                                       |
|     CERMUSA conducts operational prototypes to verify best practices  |
| in telemedicine and distance learning. Each prototype is evaluated    |
| against various criteria such as cost, utilization, and outcomes.     |
| Through these prototypes, CERMUSA identifies the best practices in    |
| utilizing affordable, readily available technology to provide         |
| healthcare services and education. These best practices effectively   |
| integrate content and technology to meet the needs of various         |
| healthcare providers. CERMUSA does not tout a single technology or    |
| vendor, but proposes an optimal mix of content and delivery methods.  |
| CERMUSA focuses on flexible solutions that are tailored to the many   |
| evolving issues facing healthcare providers in remote and medically   |
| under-served areas.                                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

** **

**CiMeRC **    [http://www.cimerc.org](http://www.cimerc.org/)      

The National Bioterrorism **C**ivilian **M**edical **R**esponse
**C**enter (CIMERC) is a university-based, pre-planning organization
designated by congress in 2000 for biological mass casualty
preparedness.

 

**Mission**

To promote the development of an effective response by civilian medical
community to biological terrorist attacks through the use of advanced
Command and Control technologies that effectively coordinate efforts
between civilian medical responders and local, State, and Federal
government agencies.

 

**Rural-Urban Partnership**

In addition to CIMERC's focus on the biological component of the
nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction triad,
CIMERC recognizes that emergency response and healthcare delivery in
metropolitan centers varies in many aspects from that of rural
communities.  This realization cultivated CIMERC's emergence as a
rural-urban partnership in biodefense.  Drexel University's principal
partner in CIMERIC is the Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically
Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA) at Saint Francis University.  In addition
to CERMUSA, CIMERC has partnered with many city and regional
governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as other
universities in determining the necessary deliverables that will ensure
an effective, integrated response.   

 

**Areas of Concentration**

-   Policy and Protocol Development

-   Command and Control Operational Capabilities (including
    Communications)

-   Bioterrorism Curriculum Development (web-based training and distance
    learning)

-   Infrastructure Research and Development (detection technologies)