Senator William Frist, MD, to Deliver Opening Keynote at the American Telemedicine Association EDGE Policy Conference
WASHINGTON, DC, NOVEMBER 11, 2020 – The American Telemedicine Association (ATA), the premier organization working to accelerate the adoption of telehealth, today announced that Senator William H. Frist, MD, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and telehealth champion, will deliver the opening keynote address at the ATA EDGE Policy Conference on Tuesday, January 12.
“As we work to ensure that access to telehealth becomes a permanent option in a reimagined hybrid care delivery system, we can think of no better voice than Senator Frist for this important bipartisan issue,” said Ann Mond Johnson, CEO, the ATA. “We are honored to have Senator Frist at our EDGE Policy Conference and will benefit from his vision and leadership in healthcare transformation, as well as his perspective on navigating the corridors of power in Washington, DC.”
As a U.S. Senator representing Tennessee from 1994 -2006 (the first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928), Dr. Frist was elected Majority Leader of the Senate, having served fewer total years in Congress than any person chosen to lead that body in history. His leadership was instrumental in the passage of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act that established Medicare Advantage and the historic PEPFAR legislation that provided life-saving treatment globally to 20 million people. Senator Frist is a nationally recognized heart and lung transplant surgeon.
Senator Frist graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Medical School and completed surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford. As the founder of the Vanderbilt Multi-Organ Transplant Center, he performed over 150 heart and lung transplants, authored over 100 peer-reviewed medical articles, and published seven books on topics such as bioterrorism, transplantation, and leadership. He is board certified in both general and heart surgery. He continues to serve as an adjunct professor of surgery at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
He is Co-Chair of the Health Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and co-founder of Aspire Health, the nation’s largest non-hospice community-based palliative care company. His board service includes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and publicly-traded companies Select Medical, Teladoc Health, Accolade, Smile Direct Club, and GS Acquisitions Holdings Corp II. Senator Frist is one of only two individuals to rank in the top ten of each of the five inaugural Modern Healthcare Magazine annual surveys of the most influential people in healthcare in the United States.
About the EDGE Policy Conference
The annual ATA EDGE Policy Conference is taking place as a virtual four-part event: January 12, 19, 26 and February 2, 2021. This timely conference, Cementing the Gains for Telehealth: Where Do We Go From Here?, will focus on state and federal telehealth policies to make access to telehealth permanently available following the public health emergency, post-election perspectives, and the implications for the future telehealth.
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GENERAL REGISTRATION: General registration is now open. Visit ATAEDGE.org to reserve a seat. Early Bird rate available through December 11.
MEDIA REGISTRATION: Please contact Gina Cella at 781-799-3137 or gcella@cellapr.com.
About the ATA
As the only organization completely focused on advancing telehealth, the ATA is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, affordable and appropriate care when and where they need it, enabling the system to do more good for more people. The ATA represents a broad and inclusive member network of technology solution providers and payers, as well as partner organizations and alliances, working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalization, and provide education and resources to help integrate virtual care into emerging value-based delivery models.
