Full Name
John "Fred" Thomas
Job Title
Director of Telemedicine
Company
Children's Hospital Colorado
Speaker Bio
Dr. John F. “Fred” Thomas holds a PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology from the University of Texas Medical Branch, a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) from the University of Texas at Austin and a BBA in Finance from Texas State University.
Prior to moving to Colorado to lead Children’s Hospital Colorado’s telemedicine effort, he was the Director of Community-based Mental Health Services and Policy at the University of Texas Medical Branch. There he developed a school-based mental health system of care that in 2012 was considered the 8th ranked best use of technology for the delivery of healthcare services in the nation. This effort was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E Casey Foundation, the Department of Education and numerous other state and local foundations. This work included development and implementation of culturally sensitive evidence based system of care including primary care, psychiatric care, behavioral health counseling, substance abuse services, academic support and before and after school family-based programs integrated in school-based primary care settings. Over the last four years, his responsibilities with the University of Colorado include faculty appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry, Family Medicine and Epidemiology and involves developing tele-enabled clinical care models and training health professionals in integrating them into their patient care settings. Several of these models have involved using telemedicine to integrate behavioral health into primary care and emergent care settings. At Children’s Hospital Colorado his tele-behavioral health consultation team decreased emergency room ambulance transfers from over 92% to less than 55%, saved over $300,000 in reduced ambulance transfers, greatly reduced overall costs of delivering psychiatric triage, reduced emergency room wait times, and improved patient satisfaction overall in a high risk group. Current work includes approximately 100 other telemedicine efforts with 26 other medical specialty areas. In addition to his role as the Director of Telemedicine, he is the Director of ECHO Colorado which is a state-wide effort to develop models of care collaboration and training for rural based primary care providers. This program developed 20+ ECHO clinics in its first year and recently received a $3 million grant from AHRQ to deliver and evaluate an ECHO-enabled medication assisted treatment (MAT) training for rural based providers dealing with patients struggling with opiate addiction.
Prior to moving to Colorado to lead Children’s Hospital Colorado’s telemedicine effort, he was the Director of Community-based Mental Health Services and Policy at the University of Texas Medical Branch. There he developed a school-based mental health system of care that in 2012 was considered the 8th ranked best use of technology for the delivery of healthcare services in the nation. This effort was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E Casey Foundation, the Department of Education and numerous other state and local foundations. This work included development and implementation of culturally sensitive evidence based system of care including primary care, psychiatric care, behavioral health counseling, substance abuse services, academic support and before and after school family-based programs integrated in school-based primary care settings. Over the last four years, his responsibilities with the University of Colorado include faculty appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry, Family Medicine and Epidemiology and involves developing tele-enabled clinical care models and training health professionals in integrating them into their patient care settings. Several of these models have involved using telemedicine to integrate behavioral health into primary care and emergent care settings. At Children’s Hospital Colorado his tele-behavioral health consultation team decreased emergency room ambulance transfers from over 92% to less than 55%, saved over $300,000 in reduced ambulance transfers, greatly reduced overall costs of delivering psychiatric triage, reduced emergency room wait times, and improved patient satisfaction overall in a high risk group. Current work includes approximately 100 other telemedicine efforts with 26 other medical specialty areas. In addition to his role as the Director of Telemedicine, he is the Director of ECHO Colorado which is a state-wide effort to develop models of care collaboration and training for rural based primary care providers. This program developed 20+ ECHO clinics in its first year and recently received a $3 million grant from AHRQ to deliver and evaluate an ECHO-enabled medication assisted treatment (MAT) training for rural based providers dealing with patients struggling with opiate addiction.
