The 11th Annual International Meeting of the American Telemedicine Association took place at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, May 7-10, 2006. The meeting was filled with presentations, exhibits and networking among a diverse group of attendees representing every corner of the United States and 43 other countries. The University of South Florida offered Continuing Education Credits for meeting attendees.

Educational Programs
Reflecting the growing and diverse interest in telemedicine, the meeting included over 300 peer-reviewed oral and poster presentations covering 35 subject areas from Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy to Mental Health to Wireless Applications. Presentations at the meeting also included 8 short and long courses, sessions held by partner organizations and exhibitor/customer case studies.

Seven program tracks were added to the educational sessions: Home Telehealth, Disease Management and Remote Monitoring, Business & Finance, Human Factors, Telemental Health, Remote Emergency and Trauma Support, Ocular Telehealthand Telemedicine Success Stories: Exhibitor/Customer Case Study Presentations. The large number of presentations in each of these areas is another indication of the varied growth and vitality of the telemedicine field.

ATA President Thelma McClosky Armstong opened the meeting at a plenary on Sunday afternoon. The opening session included the keynote presentation by Astro Teller, world reknowned entrepenuer, whose presentation focused on the consumer: CONSUMER CENTRIC TELEMEDICINE. LTC. Hon Pak, TATRC, ATA Program Chair, addressed attendees as well.

Monday's general session included a keynote address by COL Ronald K. Poropatich, M.D.. At the end of the session, the Army's General Maxwell Thurman Award was given to Carl E. Hendricks, Chief Information Officer, Military Health System, Department of Defense, Director, Information Management Technology & Reengineering for TRICARE Management Activity (TMA).

Tuesday's general session included the Kenneth Bird Annual Distinguished Lecture given this year by Bill Crounse from Micrososft , Redmond, WA. Also during this session, the ATA Presidents Awards were announced as well as the Telemedicine Journal and e-Health Award. The 2006 ATA President's Award for the Advancement of Telemedicine was awarded to University of California Davis, Center for Health & Technology. The 2006 ATA Leadership Award for the Advancement of Telemedicine was awarded to Joe Tracy, Allentown, PA. The 2006 Innovation Award was given to two organizations: Health-e-Acess and HealthPia America. The Journal Award was given to the paper titled: "A Modeled Economic Analysis of a Digital Teleophthalmology System as used by Three Federal Healthcare Agencies for Detecting Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy". For a complete listing of all the awards please visit the awards page.

Wednesday's Annual Policy Breakfast and Business meeting included remarks by the current ATA President Thelma McClosky Armstorng and an update on the state of the Association by ATA Executive Director Jonathan D. Linkous. Reports were provided from each of the SIGs and the meeting ended with remarks from Richard Bakalar, the incoming President of ATA.

Many of the slides and other handouts from each of the concurrent and plenary presentations are available here.

SIG and Chapter Highlights

ATALACC Symposium

The ATALACC co-sponsored a symposium on Saturday with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO.) The meeting well was attended.

SIG-Sponsored Short and Long Courses
Several successful SIG sponsored long and short courses were offered on Sunday to meeting attendees. The Telemental Health SIG sponsored a long course. Short courses were offered by the Home Telehealth, Business and Finance, Technology, and Emergency Preparedness and Response SIGs.

ATA SIG and Chapter Achievement Award

The Home Telehealth SIG was the winner of ATA’s first SIG and Chapter Achievement Award presented to the Executive Leadership of this group at the ATA annual meeting. The Home Telehealth SIG was recognized for their contributions in developing ATA’s first on-line certificate course in home telehealth, remote monitoring and disease management. The course will be available on the ATA web site later this month.

SIG Forums and Chapter Meetings
Special Interest Groups and Chapters held their annual meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Meetings were well attended and groups held lively discussions about progress and work accomplished over the past year and future goals and activities for the 2006-2007 year. The PICATA's meeting was held via videoconference in the Polycom booth to reach members in the Pacific region who were unable to attend the meeting in person. Some groups held elections and leadership changes were made as people fulfilled their term commitments. Leadership changes and 2006-2007 Goals and Priorities will be posted on each SIG and Chapter web page later this month.

Each SIG and Chapter provided a brief update to the membership at the Annual Policy Breakfast Plenary on Wednesday morning. Groups updated attendees on leadership changes and goals and priorities for the 2006 -2007 coming year.

Exhibit Showcase
Attendees visiting the exhibition hall were able to visit booths by 148 organizations displaying the latest developments in technology and services. Commercial firms occupied over 305 booth spaces to display their products and services. Exhibitors included a wide range of companies including device manufacturers, system developers, communications and technology companies, and medical networking consultants.

ATA is planning on a number of educational events over the next year. The 2007 Annual Meeting will be held May 13-16, 2007 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thanks to ALL for making
ATA 2006 a success!

ATA 2006 Attendees: