ECHO

Project ECHO® (Extensions for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a lifelong learning and guided practice model that revolutionizes medical education and exponentially increases workforce capacity to provide best-practice specialty care and reduce health disparities. The heart of the ECHO model^™ is its hub-and-spoke knowledge-sharing networks, led by expert teams who use multi-point video conferencing to conduct virtual clinics with community providers. In this way, primary care doctors, nurses, and other clinicians learn to provide excellent specialty care to patients in their own communities.  De-identified case presentations will be given by the primary care providers out in the field and the expert Hub will review them and provide basic recommendations as well as present didactic presentations on project-specific topics.

The WVCTSI Project ECHO program was developed and implemented through funding and support from the West Virginia Clinical & Translational Science Institute (WVCTSI), Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, WVU School of Medicine, Cabin Creek Health Systems and The WV Primary Care Association in partnership with Project ECHO®. Primary care providers and primary care teams will have an opportunity to expand their knowledge and capabilities in a variety of specialty areas at no cost, delivered right to their clinic using simple video conferencing technology. Currently, WV Project ECHO is addressing HepC/HIV, Chronic Pain, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), Psychiatry, Chronic Lung Disease (CLD), Endocrine, Cardiac Health, Memory Health, and COVID-19 throughout West Virginia and parts of Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. 

WVCTSI Project ECHO HepC/HIV

2^nd and 4^th Thursday of each month from 12:15-1:15pm EST

WVCTSI Project ECHO HepC/HIV program began to address the steady rise of hepatitis C cases in West Virginia on May 5, 2016. This innovative hub-spoke knowledge sharing network allows rural physicians to present hepatitis C cases to a panel of experts including infectious disease, gastroenterology, and behavioral medicine physicians from West Virginia University and receive mentoring in the management of such chronic conditions.  On May 24, 2018, WVCTSI Project ECHO HepC/HIV started to include HIV case as well with its rise in West Virginia. These sessions also include didactic presentations on a variety of hepatitis C/HIV topics including virology, physiology, and pathophysiology of hepatitis C/HIV, treatment options, and transmission prevention techniques. The HIV portion of this program instructs attendees based on the National HIV Curriculum from the AIDS Education and Training Centers National Coordinating Research Center.