What is Project ECHO?
Project ECHO utilizes technology to share knowledge across miles and across disciplines. By leveraging a free web-based platform, ECHO offers access while creating learning collaboratives. During a tele-ECHO session, an interdisciplinary team of specialists meets with participants in sharing best practices and applying case-based learning to improve outcomes.
About Project ECHO
We work with specialists, primary health care providers, mental health care providers, public health officials, schools and community experts in building environments comfortable for professionals to share knowledge and experiences and learn new skills. Our goal is to improve outcomes for Kansans by increasing everyone's ability to treat and manage complex health care challenges in their own communities with the right knowledge at the right place at the right time.
How Project ECHO Began
Project ECHO's story launched in 2003. It grew out of one doctor's vision. Sanjeev Arora, M.D., a social innovator and liver disease specialist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, was frustrated that he could serve only a fraction of the hepatitis C patients in the state. He wanted to serve as many patients with hepatitis C as possible, so he created a free, educational model and mentored community providers across New Mexico in how to treat the condition. A New England Journal of Medicine study found that hepatitis C care provided by Project ECHO-trained community providers was as good as the care provided by specialists at a university.
The ECHO model is not traditional "telemedicine" where the specialist assumes care of the patient but is instead "telementoring", a guided practice model where the participating clinician retains responsibility for managing the patient.
Hear from Dr. Sanjeev Arora, M.D., founder of Project ECHO.