The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 2 (Apr 2015) | Page 6

Connections in
Digital Health

Connections in Digital Health: An Interview with ATA CEO Jon Linkous

An Interview with ATA CEO Jon Linkous
Ahead of this year’s ATA2015 event in Los Angeles we talk to Jon Linkous CEO of the
American Telemedicine Association (ATA). Based in Washington, DC the ATA is a leading
international resource and advocate for promoting the use of advanced remote medical
technologies. As the chief staff executive of ATA since its inception in 1993, Mr. Linkous
has lectured and written extensively on healthcare modernisation, technology issues,
emerging applications and market trends in the U.S. and around the world.
What do you consider to be the
most important market trends
affecting the industry at this time?
“There are several things that are happening, all at once, within the industry.
We have a huge number of new investments coming into the industry that are
leading to different types of approaches,
and with this leading to the development
of different types of business models
and services.”
“Most recently, we have begun to see services based around direct-to-consumer
online consultations. These platforms,
which work over an internet connection
using your laptop or desktop, or even a
mobile application, are being offered by
a number of companies and we are also
starting to see a number of traditional
service providers starting to offer these
services as well.”

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“It represents a natural outgrowth. Physicians are offering their patient’s portals,
through which they can access their electronic information, collect lab results and
correspond and communicate easily with
physicians [and other healthcare professionals] via email. In addition to this in
many cases patients are also now

April 2015

given access to video consultations as well.”

“It is an exploding field.”

“We estimate that somewhere in the
region of 800,000 consultations will be
conducted online this year, just in that
one space alone [the telemedicine area].”

Do you believe telemedicine services and remote monitoring solutions are now an accepted part of
mainstream care pathways?

“Another particular area of growth is the
use of remote monitoring for intensive
care unit patients. There are somewhere
in the region of 550,000 patients that will
be monitored remotely, this year, within
intensive care units, which is a growth of
about 20-30%. This is such an important
part of the delivery of healthcare. It offers
not only efficiencies of care, but also
greater quality of care by allowing highly
trained intensivists to look after people in
intensive care units, in multiple hospitals.”

“Absolutely.”

“There is also growing interest from
governments and central organisations
which is having a profound influence
upon the industry landscape. In the
USA, since the beginning of this year’s
calendar session, we have already had
over 100 pieces of legislation introduced
across the various states. This proposed
legislation is all designed to expand either
reimbursement or coverage of some sort
of support for telemedicine. So there is a
huge growth in that sense.”

“Many of the medical societies, the
American Medical Association, in this
country, and medical associations in
other countries, are starting to address
this. You now have many, if not most,
of the major providers in the US heavily
investing in some form of telemedicine,
for a variety of reasons.”
“The other thing that we are just starting
to see, and we are just at the very tip of
this, is consumer demand. Consumers in
the past didn’t know what telemedicine
was. It was always done behind the scene,
and in most cases the patient would be
unaware that a remote consultation had
even occurred. One good example of
where this has been happening for a considerable time is in radiology. But, now
with direct online consultations, and
other innovations, consumers are getting
to see what the difference is by having
these types of technology available.”