In a fitting final plenary at the American Telemedicine Association's 18^th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show, the former chief of medical affairs for the UnitedHealth Group challenged ATA members to "think about old problems in new ways" as they sought to make telemedicine the norm in today's healthcare system.

Reed V. Tuckson, MD, now managing director of Tuckson Health Connections, offered a spirited keynote speech Wednesday morning that pointed out the failures of today's fragmented healthcare system and offered up telemedicine as a solution. Forget fee-for-service, he said, and focus on value-based design.

With payers looking to cut the waste out of the system and consumers looking to have more of a say in their healthcare, he said, physicians and hospitals are going to have to change their business plans. They're going to have to "demonstrate value and participate in savings that they achieve," he said.

Tuckson, who guided UnitedHealth in its development of telehealth strategies, said today's healthcare leaders are going to have to deal with a population that is living longer, and living longer with chronic illnesses, which are being diagnosed earlier in their lives. This is putting strain on an industry that is seeing fewer doctors, skyrocketing costs for chronic care and senior care services, and a shrinking pool of federal money.

Inevitably, he said, the money to pay for healthcare "is going to come from the American people." And they're going to dictate how they want their healthcare and, just as importantly, where and when they want it.

Enter innovation.

But "innovation for innovation's sake is not very interesting," he warned. 'It has to mean something."

Hence … telemedicine and mHealth, new technologies that change the way healthcare is practiced. Add to that big data, analytics and population management, he said, and the ingredients are there for much-needed improvement.

"You are disruptive by your very nature – thank God for you," Tuckson told the packed ballroom of ATA members. "Continue to be disruptive."

Tuesday's plenary also served as a changing of the guard, as outgoing ATA President A. Stewart Ferguson, chief information officer for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, handed the reins – or, more accurately, a plate of Alaskan smoked salmon – over to new president Edward Brown, MD, chief executive officer of the Ontario Telemedicine Network, one of the largest telemedicine networks in the world.

Brown noted the size of the ATA audience – the largest ever to attend an ATA conference, with 27 percent more participants in the Exhibit Hall – as proof that telemedicine's time has come. He also predicted that the industry would see great gains in the year ahead.

Brown then went on to make one more prediction. Unlike his predecessor, he would not be wearing a kilt to next year's conference.