title: Transition from grant funding to a self-supporting burn telemedicine program in the western United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many Americans have limited access to specialty burn care, and telemedicine has been proposed as a means to address this disparity. However, many telemedicine programs have been founded on grant support and then fail once the grant support expires. Our objective was to demonstrate that a burn telemedicine program can be financially viable.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective review from 2005 to 2014 evaluated burn telemedicine visits and financial reimbursement during and after a Technology Opportunities Program grant to a regional burn center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2005, we had 12 telemedicine visits, which increased to 458 in 2014. In terms of how this compares to in-person clinic visits, we saw a consistent increase in telemedicine visits as a percentage of total clinic visits from .26% in 2005 to 14% in 2014. Median telemedicine reimbursement has been equivalent to in-person visits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Specialty telemedicine programs can successfully transition from grant-funded enterprises to self-sustaining. The availability of telemedicine services allows access to specialty expertise in a large and sparsely populated region without imposing an undue financial burden.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Utah, 30 North 1900 East, SOM 3B110, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA.
authors.forename: Katie W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Utah, 30 North 1900 East, SOM 3B110, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA; Department of Telemedicine, University of Utah Health Care, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Saffle
authors.affiliation: Department of Telemedicine, University of Utah Health Care, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Louanna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Theurer
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Utah, 30 North 1900 East, SOM 3B110, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA. Electronic address: amalia.cochran@hsc.utah.edu.
authors.forename: Amalia L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Cochran
mesh_terms: D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000628:therapy*; D005381:Financing, Organized; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States
keywords: Burns; Reimbursement; Telemedicine