The Arizona Telemedicine Program is a large, multidisciplinary, university-based program that provide The University of Arizona recruited Dr. Ronald S.
In 1995, Arizona State Representative Robert “Bob” Burns (now Senator Burns) worked with legislative staffer John Lee to develop the Arizona Telemedicine Program model (ATP). Weinstein, an international expert on telemedicine, to be director of a new Arizona state-wide program. In 1996, the Arizona Telemedicine Program was born. Since then, the program has succeeded in creating partnerships among a wide variety of not-for-profit and profit healthcare organizations, and has created new interagency relationships within the state government. Functioning as a "virtual corporation," the Arizona Telemedicine Program is creating new paradigms for healthcare delivery over the information superhighway. Currently the Arizona Telemedicine Program is providing medical services via both real-time and store-and-forward technologies in twenty communities throughout Arizona. The program is recognized as one of the premier programs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and has received numerous awards at the national level for its research and innovations. Guidelines for Social Media Comments: http://uanow.org/participate
11/04/2025
📣 Exciting News from the Arizona Telemedicine Program’s HRSA funded Southwest Telehealth Resource Center!
📍We’re thrilled to announce that the Find Telehealth Map has expanded to include Colorado and New Mexico!
📍Now you can easily locate telehealth and in-person healthcare service providers across the Southwest. Explore the map today:
👉 https://findtelehealth.nrtrc.org
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center
National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers
10/30/2025
🌵 Valley Fever affects thousands of Arizonans every year—but it often goes unrecognized. This free webinar, led by John N. Galgiani, MD and Robert F. Johns, DO, brings together healthcare professionals and community members to learn how to recognize Valley Fever, understand its impact, and explore current challenges in diagnosis and care.
Why Attend?
✔ Learn which patients should be tested for Valley Fever, how to do it, and why it matters.
✔ Understand which newly diagnosed patients need specialty care.
✔ Gain insight into the limitations of current diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.
✔ Free 1-hour CME
📅 Date & Time: Thursday, November 13, 2025
12:00 P.M. – 1:00 P.M. MST
📍 Register Here: https://arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3nKisJLJRgm1u7tBMwrl6w #/registration
Valley Fever Center for Excellence
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Arizona Center for Rural Health
Burkholderia may be an uncommon pathogen, but it’s impact can be devastating if not quickly recognized. Join us in unravelling the mystery behind this challenging organism in our series on envenomations, intoxications and travel related diseases in the Southwest, and sharpen your ability to identify and respond to potential cases!
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Arizona Center for Rural Health
10/27/2025
📢 Please Join Us for a Free CME Webinar!
Topic: CARE MANAGEMENT SERVICES: WHAT’S TELEHEALTH vs NOT TELEHEALTH
Date: Tuesday, October 28th
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MST
Accreditation: Free 1-hour CME through the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
Speaker: Carol Yarbrough, MBA, CCA, CPC, OCS, CHC
National Billing Expert
✅ This webinar will clarify the differences between asynchronous care and telehealth, review payer coverage and documentation requirements, and highlight strategies to integrate these services into practice workflows to enhance compliance, patient engagement, and reimbursement.
Registration link: https://arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sGFGLdPfTjqj1nbdLym11Q #/registration
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Arizona Center for Rural Health
National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers
10/21/2025
Please join us for part 2 of “Successfully Leading Change: Telehealth”, a three-part webinar series focused on navigating change in virtual care environments.
🗓 Date: October 23, 2025
🕛 Time: 12:00 PM MST
🎙 Presenter: Jan Ground, PT, MBA
🔗 https://arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jroKjcifQimxldhifRwurw #/registration
Whether you're a healthcare provider, administrator, or innovator in digital health, this session will offer valuable insights into leading change effectively in telehealth settings.
Let’s continue shaping the future of connected care together!
10/21/2025
🌵 Valley Fever: What You Need to Know
This session is ideal for healthcare professionals, public health advocates, and anyone interested in learning more about Valley Fever’s impact and treatment.
The Arizona Telemedicine Program, Southwest Telehealth Resource Center, and American Indian Health - Area Health Education Center invite you to a free one-hour CME webinar focused on Valley Fever—an important but often underrecognized health issue in the Southwest.
🩺 CME provided by University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
Valley Fever Center for Excellence
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Arizona Center for Rural Health
Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care
10/07/2025
📢 Please Join Us for the Arizona Telemedicine Council Meeting – October 15, 2025!
Let’s connect, collaborate, and advance telehealth in Arizona!
🗓 Date: October 15, 2025
🕚 Time: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Arizona Time (MST, UTC -7)
📍 Location: Virtual
Agenda Highlights:
Federal Telehealth Policy Updates – Tara Sklar, JD, MPH
The Current State of Tele-ICU – Christian Bime, MD, MSc, ATSF
Arizona Perinatal & Pediatric Psychiatry Access Lines – Saira Kalia, MD
Libraries as Telehealth Hubs – Elizabeth Krupinski, PhD
Arizona Telemedicine Program Updates – Joseph Finkelstein, MD, PhD
🔗 Register here: https://arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dA-TfXBiRcam1hsNpoGeCQ
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
Arizona Center for Rural Health
10/06/2025
🎧 Teleaudiology Webinar
📅 October 8, 2025 | 🕛 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MST
📍 Virtual via Zoom
🔗 Register here: https://arizona.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cwicMdTbTiGw4atfZqhJrA #/registration
Join us for a compelling webinar featuring Dr. Kristi Petersen, Chief of Audiology at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center, as she shares insights from over a decade of serving Indigenous communities across Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
This session will explore:
✅ Three key benefits of teleaudiology for both providers and patients
🛠️ Best practices for delivering care via telehealth
🚧 Clinical challenges and strategies to overcome them
Whether you're a healthcare provider, technologist, or telehealth advocate, this webinar offers valuable perspectives on how teleaudiology is transforming access to essential hearing services.
📣 Earn Free CME credit through the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.
October is
Indian Health Service
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson
University of Arizona Health Sciences
09/26/2025
🚨 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) is a landmark $50 billion funding opportunity for States to improve rural healthcare.
👉 In our latest Southwest Telehealth Resource Center (SWTRC) blog, “Answering the Call for Rural Health Transformation with Digital Health Innovations,” we highlight digital health approaches described in the example initiatives provided in CMS' RHTP Notice of Funding Opportunity. https://southwesttrc.org/blog/2025/answering-call-rural-health-transformation-digital-health-innovations
📍 The Arizona Telemedicine Program's SWTRC, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, provides technical assistance, training and resources throughout the southwest in AZ, CO, NM, and NV and the Four Corners Region.
09/11/2025
🕛 Wednesday, September 17, 2025 | 12:00 PM (Arizona/PDT)
Join us for the next session in our Envenomations, Intoxications, and Travel-Related Diseases series!
This session will spotlight mites, tiny critters with the potential to cause significant medical concerns, including:
✔ Skin irritation and allergic reactions
✔ Secondary infections
✔ Transmission of infectious diseases
Learning Objectives:
• Understand the epidemiology of mite infections
• Recognize three clinical presentations of mite bites
• Identify treatment options and prevention strategies
🎓 CME Credit Available
The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.
Join us on September 25th from 12-1 p.m. PDT for this free webinar series.
Are you navigating the challenges of helping providers adopt new care delivery models? Change management isn’t just about implementing a new process, it’s about guiding people through the transition so it sticks.
Join us for our upcoming webinar series where we’ll explore the essential steps to lead effective change in healthcare settings.
By the end of this session, you’ll have actionable strategies to not only manage resistance but also build buy-in and momentum for lasting transformation.
This series is designed for leaders and providers who want to drive adoption of innovative service delivery models while supporting their teams every step of the way.
It’s that time of year again! The Arizona Telemedicine Program and Southwest Telehealth Resource Center are excited to offer our Developing a Telemedicine Program training on September 9th.
This interactive course is designed for organizations and providers who want to launch or grow their telemedicine services. Our team of experts will share practical strategies, real-world examples, and resources to help you:
✅ Build the foundation for a successful telemedicine program
✅ Navigate compliance and reimbursement requirements
✅ Optimize workflows and technology for patients and providers
✅ Expand services to better meet the needs of your community
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Arizona Telemedicine Program posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
In 1995, Arizona State Representative Robert “Bob” Burns (now Senator Burns) worked with legislative staffer John Lee to develop the Arizona Telemedicine Program model (ATP). Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to provide training for healthcare providers and specialist consults to providers and patients who are located in areas that do not have that level of service available. The University of Arizona College of Medicine was directed to establish a pilot telemedicine program with eight sites to serve the Arizona prison system and rural underserved communities. The U of A recruited Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein, an international expert on telemedicine, to be director of the new Arizona state-wide program.
Senator Burns and Dr. Weinstein have partnered in developing and managing the ATP since its inception.
The Arizona Telemedicine Program is a large, multidisciplinary, university-based program that provides telemedicine services, distance learning, informatics training, and telemedicine technology assessment capabilities to communities throughout Arizona, the sixth largest state in the United States, in square miles. The program has succeeded in creating partnerships among a wide variety of not-for-profit and profit healthcare organizations, and has created new interagency relationships within the state government. Functioning as a "virtual corporation," the Arizona Telemedicine Program is creating new paradigms for healthcare delivery over the information superhighway. The program is recognized as one of the premier programs at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and has received numerous awards at the national level for its research and innovations.
A major contributing factor to the success of the Arizona Telemedicine Program is its strong commitment to research, and its track record in technology transfer. In 1973, the Department of Radiology at the College of Medicine formed a Digital Imaging Group which has been exceptionally productive over the years, and remains a recognized program in the field. The research group includes physicians as well as Ph.D.s in computer sciences and electrical engineering, cognitive psychology, and optical sciences. In 1990, Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein, a pioneer in the field of robotic telemedicine, was recruited to the University of Arizona and initiated collaboration with the radiology team.
Dr. Weinstein has had a career-long interest in telemedicine. He trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard at the time that the first multi-service telemedicine program was established between Logan Airport and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 1986, Dr. Weinstein invented robotic telepathology for which he holds US Patents. His Telepathology Research Laboratory at Rush Medical College, in Chicago, where he was Department Head for 15 years prior to coming to Arizona, carried out pioneering research on the diagnostic accuracy of telepathology, developed the first robotic telemedicine application, and designed the first commercial robotic telepathology system. In 1992, Dr. Weinstein established the Arizona International Telemedicine Network which provided telepathology consultations in Mexico and China. His work was widely acknowledged and, in 1993, Dr. Weinstein was invited to give the opening lecture at the First International Conference on Clinical Applications of Telemedicine, in Tromso, Norway. The Dean of the Arizona College of Medicine, Dr. James E. Dalen, gave a lecture on “Rural Healthcare” at the same meeting. Thus, there was significant interest in telemedicine in Arizona prior to the establishment of the Arizona Telemedicine Program.
In 1996, the Legislature of the State of Arizona funded the Arizona Telemedicine Program and mandated that it provide telemedicine services to a broad range of healthcare service users including geographically isolated communities, Indian tribes, and Department of Corrections rural prisons. Leveraging the state startup funds, the Arizona Telemedicine Program succeeded in obtaining additional funding and support from many healthcare systems, state agencies, federal grant programs, and third party payors.
Currently the Arizona Telemedicine Program is providing medical services via both real-time and store-and-forward technologies in twenty communities. This year, 500 hours of continuing medical education and continuing education will be delivered to thirty-four communities using bi-direction video conferencing. The Arizona Telemedicine Program has created two additional statewide programs, Project Nightingale and e-Healthcare Arizona. Project Nightingale, created by Dr. Weinstein, is a unique, dedicated broadband healthcare infrastructure which functions as a telecommunications collaborative providing access to T-1/ATM telecommunications on a private network throughout the state on a cost-sharing basis. e-Healthcare Arizona provides state agencies with a vehicle for collaborating on various programs in disease prevention, public education, correctional telemedicine and, more recently, children's healthcare and home health nursing. In addition, the Arizona Telemedicine Program has recently instituted innovative programs in home health care for patients with artificial hearts awaiting transplantation, patients requiring ostomy home-nursing services, and children in need of occupational and physical therapy. Telenursing services are being implemented in Phoenix schools.
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the Arizona Telemedicine Program has been to create strong ties between the University of Arizona College of Medicine, various healthcare providers, and the state legislature. Bridges built between state agencies, local governments and legislative bodies are fostering a high level of awareness of the importance of telemedicine and e-health to achieving the state's healthcare goals. The program also serves as a platform upon which the state's only College of Medicine can demonstrate its value to exceptionally broad constituencies throughout Arizona and the nation as a clinical research center, a tertiary care facility, and as an educational institution.
