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Medicaid and Telehealth: Interview with Dr. Shannon Dowler

Guest bio

Dr. Shannon Dowler is a family doctor born, raised and trained in North Carolina. She has spent the past twenty years pursuing health access, equity and quality in Western North Carolina. In 2019 she became theChief Medical Officer for North Carolina Medicaid.

You can also learn more about Dr. Dowler’s work by visiting shannondowlermd.com

Highlights from this episode

  1. The amazing NC telehealth pandemic roll-out story, including rolling out a 3-year plan in 7 weeks to deploy 367 program flexibilities
  2. Take-aways from communicating rapid changes to providers using data
  3. Changes in barriers to telehealth over the last 2 years
  4. Impact of implementing managed-care simultaneous to the telehealth rollout
  5. Hybrid home health visits
  6. Challenges and opportunities using telehealth to move the dial on quality measure
  7. The danger of over-estimating the cost impact of expanded telehealth visits
  8. Advice to solution providers innovating in the Medicaid telehealth space

Further Exploration

More talks by Dr. Dowler on a range of issues

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Medicaid and Telehealth Episode 1: Interview with Becky Sanders

Guest bio

Becky is a Senior Director for the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA), where she engages with the other senior directors of the IRHA Executive Team in strategic planning and guidance for the future of the IRHA.  She works with a wide variety of healthcare providers throughout the state of Indiana and maintains relationships with other state organizations to foster public/private partnerships on behalf of the IRHA. 

Becky also serves as the Program Director for the Upper Midwest Telehealth Resource Center (UMTRC).  In this role, she provides technical assistance and resources for healthcare facilities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.  The UMTRC serves as a single point of contact for telehealth resources through educational presentations, individualized technical assistance, facilitation, and connections to telehealth information via the website and program staff.

Ms. Sanders has been with the IRHA since 2008.  She has a Lean Healthcare Black Belt Certification from Purdue Healthcare Advisors and is a National Rural Health Association Fellow.  Becky previously worked in telecommunications for the National Exchange Carrier Association. Ms. Sanders has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana State University and a Masters of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University. 

Highlights from this episode

  1. The impact of the pandemic on telehealth usage by providers
  2. Trends in infrastructure needed to support broader use of telehealth
  3. Telehealth trends for Medicaid and Medicaid
  4. Promising new models with care extenders in pharmacies and libraries

Further Exploration

https://www.umtrc.org/engagement/podcasts/

  • https://www.indianaruralhealth.org/

https://www.umtrc.org/resources/reimbursement/

https://www.cchpca.org/

https://telehealthresourcecenter.org/