|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Loretta M. Schlachta-Fairchild, PhD, CHE is Founder and Principal and concurrently serves as President of iTeleHealth, Inc. She is a former military critical care nurse, a healthcare administrator and a nationally known expert in telehealth, telemedicine and telenursing. She was Clinical Director and Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Monitored Services, Inc. a Disease Management company using home telehealth technology to deliver multidisciplinary care to high cost, chronically ill patients. Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild led a team which developed and implemented a disease management program for COPD and Pediatric Asthma, as well as designed a web-based Clinical Information System for Disease Management. Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild also developed the evaluation framework for the program, to include qualitative and quantitative analysis of patient satisfaction, economic impact and functional health status measures.
Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild has 22 years active duty and reserve Army experience and is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve. She served as a senior healthcare administrator at Santa Rose Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, TX; Management Analyst, Headquarters, US Army Europe; and Healthcare Consultant, Heidelberg, Germany for US and international healthcare firms. Dr. Schlachta-Fairchild is also on the Associate Faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Nursing.
An expert in web-based education and staff development instruction, Dr. Elfrink has conducted quantitative and qualitative research to determine market need of such programs. She has published 15 refereed articles and book chapters on various educational topics and has written research technology, R&D articles for HealthNet (quarterly publication) in addition to conducting over 30 national and international presentations on information technology in healthcare. Also, Dr. Elfrink has been actively involved in the development and use of standardized nursing vocabularies and has designed and co-produced video tapes promoting its use. Dr. Elfrink earned her undergraduate (BSN) degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and both, her Masters of Science in Mental Health Nursing and her PhD. in Education Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Her other educational achievements include ANCC certification in Nursing Informatics and a post-Masters certificate in Nursing Systems Administration from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She was an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio as well as Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Honored for her excellence in research and education, Dr. Elfrink received the Circle of Excellence award from the Lambda Omega Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, and the Outstanding Research in Curriculum and Instruction Award from Kent State University. Her other professional affiliations include the American Nurses Association, Ohio Nurses Association, and the American Medical Informatics Association. She then actively worked her way through the structure at Prudential Healthcare for the six years following, gaining invaluable direct and supervisory experience in care management and quality improvement, followed by provider relations and contracting. During her Prudential tenure she also completed the intense training course required of their marketing professionals. She further earned her CPHQ (Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality), and not long thereafter, served two board terms for the “Maryland Association for Healthcare Quality”. Her subsequent return to the provider arena led to business development and marketing for an integrated pediatric healthcare system with a significant home care enterprise and Medicaid patronage, which positioned her for clinical pathway pioneering. She built on that disease management experience by a directorship within a leading pharmacy benefits manager, and honed her skills in creating, selling, and implementing a variety of disease management programs, especially those involving depression, asthma and cardiovascular risk reduction. Before coming to iTelehealth , Ms. Geer spent several years as an independent healthcare consultant. Most recently she was employed by Johns Hopkins Home Care Group as part of their business development management team, where the largest population cared for were Medicare beneficiaries. Significantly, she has been acknowledged for her talent in aligning interests between organizational objectives and quality healthcare delivery with a view toward business effectiveness. Given her enduring passion for consumer/patient healthcare advocacy, Ms. Geer served for many years on the board of “Prevent Child Abuse Maryland”, was a hospice volunteer, and has recently volunteered numerous hours to the YWCA of Maryland. Ms. Geer retains an active membership within the “Maryland Association for Healthcare Quality”, and is active as well within the “Maryland Association of Health Care Executives”. Mitra
Rocca, MSc. currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of iTeleHealth, Inc. Ms. Rocca is also the Director of Medical Informatics at the National Assoication of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), a non-profit organization serving children's hospitals located in Alexandria, VA.
Nancy J. Sharp, MS, FAAN is
a Senior Associate for iTeleHealth, Inc. Spurred on by cataclysmic growth of the Internet in 1995
and two landmark legislative markers -- passage of the Telecommunications Act of
1996" and the "Comprehensive TeleHealth Act of 1997, Ms. Sharp has become a
very active nurse-representative in the Washington, DC-based Joint Working Group on
Telemedicine/TeleHealth, the Federal Communications Commissions’ Health Advisory
Committee, Arent & Fox’s Center for Telemedicine Law, Ad Hoc Congressional Caucus
on TeleHealth, and the American Nurses Association’s Interprofessional TeleHealth
Roundtables. She was instrumental in seeing that nursing professionals were included as
health care providers in the January 1997 Telemedicine Report to Congress. Currently, all of her energies are focused on educating health
professionals on the telecommunications technologies available for professional continuing
education, consumer education and clinical applications in TeleHealth and e-health. Ms.
Sharp is well acquainted in the nursing association world. As President of the American
Nephrology Nurses Association, and Director of Practice and Legislation for the
Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses, she developed
grassroots advocacy programs for nurses in these two specialty groups. From 1993-1997, she served as Executive Vice President of the American
College of Nurse Practitioners – a coalition-model organization for state and
national nurse practitioner organizations involved in public policy. A prolific writer and
speaker, Ms. Sharp has written over 150 articles for nursing journals and made over 200
presentations to nursing audiences across the country. She is author and publisher of five editions of The Nurse’s Directory
of Capitol Connections: Positions and Opportunities in Health Policy Development.
Ms. Sharp was educated in the BSN program at Augustana College, Rock Island, IL and
received her MSN from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Ms. Sharp
currently holds adjunct faculty and clinical lecturer status at University of Miami,
Miami, FL, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Elizabeth L. Young Weeden, M.A., P.C. is an Associate with iTeleHealth, Inc. She is currently the Senior Content Developer in association with iTeleHealth’s preventing suicide SBIR initiative. Ms. Young Weeden is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University’s clinical counseling master’s program having completed the practical component of her studies working with homeless women and their families in an agency offering comprehensive and long-term drug treatment as well as working with young people in a middle school to develop and hone skills for success inside and outside of the academic environment. After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Government at The University of Virginia, Ms. Young Weeden worked in academic environments teaching technology as well as history to middle school, high school, and collegiate aged young people. She developed a fluency in diverse technologies culminating in her position as ITC, Information, Technology and Communications, Student Training Coordinator at The University of Virginia. Ms. Young Weeden’s professional affiliations include, the American Counseling Association and Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Honorary Society.
|
||
|
|