The Rapidly Changing Health Environment: Can the FTCA Program Keep Pace?

Opportunities to chart new directions in delivery of services to our communities are challenging health centers every day. New partners are emerging and new service delivery modes have become available. With the rise of telemedicine, expedited partner therapy, and use of email and social media in the clinical setting, health centers must be more careful then ever in controlling their risk. The most important tool is the continued protection of the FTCA program. But has the FTCA program kept pace with the evolution of health centers and health care in America? This workshop will: (1) review the underlying concepts of the immunity afforded by the FTCA program; (2) discuss problems health centers face in assuring FTCA coverage in the current environment; and (3) provide potential solutions to the problems plaguing the FTCA program.