Greg Smith is President of Rural Health Futures, Inc. and the Pratt Telecommunity Center, Inc Mr. Smith has been in the technology field for over twenty-five years and has extensive experience in computer systems development. His computer knowledge, experiences in the health care and economic development fields, and familiarity with rural issues have created many unique opportunities for rural communities.
Mr. Smith has been selected for Who's Who in the Computer Industry, Who's Who in Executive and Professionals and the inaugural Telemedicine 200. Rural Health Futures, Inc. and the Pratt Telecommunity Center, Inc. have also been identified for their successes and rural leadership.
During the last three years Greg has developed the Pratt Telecommunity Center, a for profit, technology center. The Pratt Telecommunity Center was the first of its type in the United States and has been responsible for the change in the economic development climate for Pratt, Kansas, a small rural community. The Center is well known for it's progressive use of technology, in particular the Internet. The Center routinely uses the Internet to draw attention to the community through its Web Broadcasting capability and is now expanding into using the Internet as the means to capture real business activity. Consequently, the Center is one of the first in the State to begin developing E-Commerce, E-Business and E-Health applications. The model for the Center is now being followed by several other rural communities.
Over the last six years Greg has also devoted a great deal of time and energy to the study and implementation of Telemedicine networks, health information systems, economic development, and technologies that support a wide cross section of entities within rural communities and regions. Greg's work with the Kansas Hospital Association and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment led to publication of the most read work on Telemedicine -- "Telemedicine: Assessing the Kansas Environment."
Following the Telemedicine effort the Kansas Department of Health and Environment asked Mr. Smith to extend the study to investigate how rural healthcare providers could use integrated information systems. Based on substantial secondary research and case studies of three Kansas/Oklahoma hospital networks, ranging in size from two to eighteen providers, Greg developed educational materials and workbooks that could be used by rural healthcare providers to understand information technology, identify how this technology could be used to better integrate within and among providers, and plan an implementation strategy that facilitated the collaborative efforts among rural providers. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Hospital Association has since published the results of the study in the Network Information System Assessment & Planning Process (NISAPP).
While in the process of completing these earlier efforts, Greg along with others around the country began to explore how these same technologies could be used not only in health care, but by communities for economic development. This work led to the concept of a Rural Telecommunity Center. During the last two and half years, Greg has led the development of the first of these comprehensive Centers in Pratt, Kansas. The Pratt Telecommunity Center has been selected as one of the top three economic development projects in the country and is under consideration for another similar award. The Center has been instrumental in changing the technology landscape in Pratt.
Rural Health Futures, Inc., under the direction of Mr. Smith, has also developed a national reputation at developing technology based concepts and implementation strategies that can be used by rural communities and regions to develop the means to use the information superhighway to support their economic development goals while also addressing business, education and healthcare infrastructure inefficiencies. Greg has successfully led several communities through the process of community collaboration and technology awareness, so that these communities can achieve their economic development, business, health and education goals without depending on grant sources for funding.
Greg has also conducted a number of Telemedicine and economic development work sessions, strategic planning work sessions, planned and developed Telemedicine networks, developed community and regional plans for technology centers, prepared and submitted numerous Telemedicine and advanced technology grant applications, implemented Telemedicine networks, assisted communities and vendors in developing technology centers, and assisted hospitals in Telemedicine vendor selection. Greg has been the guest speaker at a number of Telemedicine, telecommunications and economic development conferences and seminars. Mr. Smith also participated in the Office of Rural Health Policy Telemedicine Summit in Washington, D.C. along with other national forums.
Mr. Smith, along with working with a number of businesses to integrate the computer into their activities, has a strong background in teaching information system planning and development strategies. Greg was an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado. Prior to working in a university environment, Greg worked for Boeing Computer Services, Inc. in Seattle and Chevron, U.S.A in San Francisco. Projects included efforts with NASA, the Air Force, and the Army and included computer environments that ranged from small to large computer systems. Greg has had numerous articles and books published over the past 25 years on subjects that include rural economic development, Telemedicine, health information systems, advanced technologies and mental health in rural communities, user acceptance of technology and various other subjects.
Greg has a Masters and a B.S. in Business Administration from Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado and is ABD status on a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.
For additional information contact Kelli Schneider @ (970) 207-9798 or
