Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Avera Health received a $4.3 million grant to develop a national telehealth certificate program that aims to standardize and enhance the quality of care delivered via telehealth platforms.
The health system's telehealth network Avera eCare will oversee the program, and medical faulty from various academic institutions will partner with Avera to establish the curriculum. After the program's launch, it will be housed under an independent accrediting body led by a board of telehealth experts.
The program will be open to physicians, advanced practice providers, medical residents and administrators, who will be able to earn a certificate in telehealth as a delivery model as well as a specialty certificate for telebehavioral health.
The Helmsley Charitable Trust provided Avera with the grant for the program, expanding on the organization's previously gifted one-year planning grant to launch a telebehavioral certificate program for residents.
With the new funding, Avera will establish a governing board for creation of the telehealth certificate program, appoint a national expert panel to confirm the curriculum objectives and develop a 5,000-square-foot telehealth education center.