ECHO Project

Ongoing health workforce shortage is global issue. SEA-HATTC signed MOU with Missouri Telehealth Network, University of Missouri for utilization of ECHO® model and software to conduct virtual clinics via multi-point videoconferencing also extend healthcare knowledge and tele-consultation to primary care and communities in Thailand and Tier 1 countries.

Given the limited project budget and the vast geographic spread of the target countries, SEA-HATTC has been considering the role and ECHO model may play in the overall strategic plan. To promote the expansion of new learning strategies, the SEA-HATTC has taken lead to introduce Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes® (ECHO). An ECHO model is a guided practice strategy for transforming medical education and increasing workforce capacity to teach best-practice specialty care. Having been endorsed as a highly innovative strategy that produces improvements in the quality and efficiency of integrated care, ECHO is a low-cost yet high-impact intervention linking expert inter-disciplinary teams of practitioners through tele-education.

The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Model:

1. People need access to specialty care for their complex health conditions.
2. There aren't enough specialists to treat everyone who needs care, especially in rural and underserved communities.
3. ECHO trains primary care clinicians to provide specialty care services.  This means more people can get the care they need.
4. Patients get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.  This improves outcomes and reduces costs.