Oral

This presentation will describe the work of the Regional Coordinating Center for Hurricane Response (Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA) to the health disparities in the Gulf Region as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In this session, the lessons learned from the Center’s experience will be linked to policy and practice options aimed at improving access to an equitable, responsive, and sustainable health system for underserved populations and reducing health disparities across socioeconomic and racial groups. The impact of Hurricane Katrina included destruction of much of the area’s health infrastructure, including loss of paper medical records. We will begin with a description of a network approach implemented to coordinate care for people with chronic diseases following Hurricane Katrina. This will be followed by a discussion of the use of telehealth technology to provide care and address access problems in the hurricane-affected region. We will discuss policy implications of the model, including licensure, malpractice, and reimbursement. Our final presentation will describe the Regional Coordinating Center response of the to Hurricane Katrina, including facilitating collaboration among local health departments, health providers, and academic health centers; and providing personal health records to individuals and electronic medical record software to clinics.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Describe the health disparities in the Gulf Coast region as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 2) Identify the impact of activities and the associated policy implications that have emerged from the Regional Coordinating Center for Hurricane Response 3) Describe a behavioral telehealth care initiative in the Gulf Coast and its potential impact

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing