The 2024 Telehealth Pioneer award was presented to Dr. Robert Bank during the 12th Annual Telehealth Summit of South Carolina held last month in Hilton Head. The award recognizes an individual champion in the areas of clinical care, education, or policy who implemented telehealth with a practice, health center, school-based or administrative setting.
Dr. Bank is director of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. He was instrumental in starting the statewide Emergency Department telepsychiatry consult program. That project was one of the largest projects in the history of the state and served as a prototype for a number of similar telepsychiatry programs that came after.
“Dr. Bob Bank has been in the forefront of the development and deployment of telehealth services in South Carolina, particularly in tele-psychiatry,” said John Magill, former director of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. “He has overseen the expansion of telehealth services at DMH and they have become one of the most successful and largest telepsychiatry services in America.”
Palmetto Care Connections is the host of the Annual Telehealth Summit of South Carolina. The Telehealth Summit brings together leaders and professionals interested in utilizing telehealth to increase access to health care.
