Measuring mental health outcomes in Walbridge Fire 2020.

In August 2020, Sonoma County experienced the Walbridge Fire (part of the Lake-Napa Unit Complex Fire). Following the repopulation of evacuated residents, the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management circulated a Resident Experience Survey to learn from stakeholders how the fire impacted their lives, how emergency response to the fire met their needs, and to gather information to improve future disaster response activities. A total of 1,583 English and 55 Spanish surveys were completed. This paper describes a mixed-method research using survey data to understand broader mental health implications of the Walbridge Fire on residents. This study developed a quantitative Global Worry Model to explore which survey factors contributed to poorer mental health outcomes. Quantitative analytics looked at how language, loss, emergency alerts, and family size were measured for significance with a survey reported on a mental health questionnaire. Open-ended survey responses surrounding previous disaster experience, pre-existing health issues, and environmental conditions (smoke and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic) were contributory to responder's stress and anxiety. Final data analysis concluded that those who faced immediate loss presented with significant self-declared stress and anxiety.

Exploring disaster resilience within the hotel sector: A systematic review of literature.

Within the tourism industry, the hotel sector's vulnerabilities are multi-faceted. This literature discussion scrutinizes how disaster and resilience is framed for the tourism sector, and, more specifically, how the concepts can be applied to the hotel sector. A synthesis of the literature points to the importance of prioritizing disaster resilience building for the hotel sector. The body of literature regarding disasters, tourism, and more specifically hotels, has increased over the last 20 years, still improvements in the hotel sector's disaster preparedness and do not appear to be on the same trajectory. Illustrating the predicament of the contemporary hotel industry serves to open a discussion about the value of building resiliency to disaster for hotels. As the numbers of people affected by disasters grows, the importance of providing actionable information to limit the severity of these events on communities also escalates in pace.

State Medicaid and private payer reimbursement for telemedicine: An overview.

Individual states in the USA were given the option of paying for telemedicine services with Medicaid (i.e. federal health-care funds administered by the state) in 1998, when the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) published final rules for Medicare payment for teleconsultations in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). It was left to telemedicine practitioners in each state to negotiate the scope of the services covered with the state Medicaid office. Three reports of data gathered by 2002-03 surveys on state reimbursement policies have been reviewed, with additional information from a brief informal 2005 survey conducted by the author. In the seven years since 1998, 34 states have added coverage of telemedicine services to their Medicaid programmes, although there are wide variations in service coverage, payment policies, and geographical and other restrictions. There is less published information on private payer reimbursement. One survey performed by AMD Telemedicine (AMD) and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) showed that over half of the 72 telemedicine programmes in 25 states delivering billable services were being reimbursed by private payers. In 1999, 43% of responding telemedicine networks saw reimbursement as a barrier to long-term sustainability, while in 2004 only 22% did so. It appears that some progress has been made in Medicaid and private payer reimbursement for telemedicine.

The Telemedicine Information Exchange: 10 years' experience.

The Telemedicine Information Exchange (TIE) Website has provided information on telemedicine since 1995. The site could be considered successful from its longevity alone; however, it can also be considered a success using other measures. The usage of the site has grown steadily over the years, to more than 20,000 visitors per month by 2005. The Bibliographic database has over 16,000 telemedicine-related citations, more than found anywhere else, and is the most visited section of the Website. The second most visited database, Active Telemedicine Programs, is the result of 10 years of tracking activity and growth using a voluntary online survey. This continuous monitoring of telemedicine literature and activity has allowed TIE research staff to anticipate user needs and interests. For instance, a Home Telehealth section was initiated after it became apparent that interest in the subject was increasing. Longevity also provides a perspective about the best ways of maintaining a content-heavy online resource. Efforts to augment federal funding (the TIE's sole source of support) by selling packaged information products have taught us that online users will not pay for information. Our raison d'être for the past 10 years has been the provision of credible, up-to-date information, and our reward has been positive feedback from thousands of TIE users.

Information on telemedicine.

Although the practice of telemedicine is still not considered part of mainstream health care, there has been a steady growth in information about telemedicine since 1999. The increasing body of literature about telemedicine, the staying power of various telemedicine societies and Websites, and the growing number of well-attended conferences about telemedicine all attest that interest in and the practice of telemedicine worldwide are very much alive and well. Searching for information has also become easier with the advent of better and faster search engines, particularly Google. Nonetheless, many Websites are out of date and the semantic confusion between 'telemedicine' and other terms such as 'telehealth' means that considerable perseverance is required to sift the wheat from the chaff. There is a wide variety of both electronic and print resources that have proven to be reliable sources of information. These include: the Internet (Web), books and reports, journals and trade magazines, telemedicine societies and conferences. While telemedicine cannot yet be considered to be part of mainstream health care, it has become a more familiar part of health terminology worldwide.