WVU Today
The West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute Project ECHO program has been spreading specialty care knowledge across the Mountain State for five years. Building upon its success, the project can now lend resources and expertise to health providers beyond West Virginia with its recent designation as an ECHO Superhub — one of only eight in the United States and 18 worldwide.
The Superhub designation means that WVCTSI Project ECHO, housed at West Virginia University, can offer outreach support, mentoring and training to health care providers and other institutions on how to start their own ECHO program, a guided-practice model designed by the University of New Mexico to reduce health disparities in underserved and remote areas.
WVCTSI launched its Project ECHO program in spring 2016 to address the rising prevalence of hepatitis C cases in West Virginia. It has expanded specialized care education to health care providers in nine areas: Hepatitis C and HIV, chronic pain management, substance use disorder, psychiatry, chronic lung disease, endocrinology, cardiac health, memory health and COVID-19.
“One of our longtime partners, Cabin Creek Health Systems near Charleston, approached us with the idea of starting a Project ECHO program,” said Jay Mason, director of community programs and the WVCTSI Project ECHO. “They were looking for assistance with hepatitis C treatment and screening, so we did the immersion training with the University of New Mexico and launched our first ECHO in May 2016.
“Being located in Morgantown, with access to the medical school, allowed us to partner with infectious disease specialists who could provide expertise to clinicians throughout West Virginia.”
Mason said the ECHO model is similar to telemedicine with specialists connecting with primary care physicians, usually in remote areas.
Primary care providers participating in ECHO sessions can discuss patient cases with a panel of expert hub members and receive didactic specialized content presentations.
WVCTSI Project ECHO has presented 530 educational sessions to more than 1,000 participants in West Virginia, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The Superhub designation will amplify this reach as leaders from West Virginia will provide training to health care leaders from throughout the nation who wish to host ECHO programs.
Dr. Sally Hodder, WVCTSI director and associate vice president for clinical and translational science at WVU, said, “WVCTSI Project ECHO has demonstrated an impressive record in a very short period of time, amplifying specialty expertise in rural areas throughout the nation. Jay Mason and his team deserve congratulations on the impactful program that they have implemented. It is not surprising that they have been chosen to enable others to establish similar programs.”
To become a Superhub, a Project ECHO Hub must be a hub for at least one year, submit an application and once approved, participate in a specialized ECHO Immersion training around Superhubs. The Superhub Immersion training was completed virtually in January.
In July, the WVCTSI Project ECHO Superhub will host its first training with the Hepatitis C Virus Collaborative. The ECHO Institute developed the HCV Collaborative for purposes of increasing provider education and capacity to treat hepatitis C in Appalachia.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
