Impact of Project ECHO at OSU-CHS felt statewide
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Media Contact: Sara Plummer | Senior Communications Coordinator | 918-561-1282 | sara.plummer@okstate.edu
Project ECHO — Extension for Community Health care Outcomes — at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is a collaborative model of medical education and care guidance that empowers clinicians in rural and underserved communities to provide specialty care to more people where they live.
Utilizing a digital platform, health care providers in rural and underserved areas can regularly receive training, consultation and mentoring from a team of specialists on patient cases.
Since OSU-CHS started its Project ECHO program in 2017, it has offered ECHO lines in 36 different specialty care fields and is currently offering 15 health care ECHOs covering an array of topics, including addiction medicine, congestive heart failure, diabetes management, hypertension management, psychiatry, veteran care and many more.
“It not only allows local primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and clinicians to provide specialty care to their patients, but it also saves those patients time and money,” said Dr. Tara Jackson, director of Project ECHO at OSU-CHS.
In 2025, more than 8,990 people participated in an ECHO session, and 8,046 of those attended a health care ECHO session.
Jackson said if those participants then treat 10 patients based on the information and guidance shared in the ECHO session, that could impact up to 80,460 patients.
If patients aren’t referred to an outside specialist for care, the potential cost savings are $1,173 per patient, she said. That means those 80,460 patients treated by their primary care team instead of a specialist provides a potential cost savings of over $94 million.
“For me, OSU’s Project ECHO is a very unique educational platform that fosters intellectual growth and practical application. It is a welcoming space where interdisciplinary professionals in sport and exercise sciences, as well as allied health professionals and medical providers, can come together and collaborate through the power of education. It has been instrumental in my continued professional development,” said Jessica Mora Nurquez, an orthopedics and sports medicine consultant and ECHO participant.
Project ECHO has also expanded into education and is currently offering four ECHO lines for administrators, teachers, coaches, counselors and health professionals in Oklahoma schools to improve student learning, health and wellness.
“It not only allows local primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and
clinicians to provide specialty care to their patients, but it also saves those patients
time and money.”
With grant funding from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Project ECHO launched 11 lines last year, including congestive heart failure, diabetes management in primary care, hypertension management in primary care, school nurses and diabetes care and community health workers.
Project ECHO continues to partner with the OSU Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute to expand the existing pediatric obesity ECHO focus, enhancing comprehension and care capacity for medical providers and school health professionals.
Sarah Ehrlich, a physical education teacher at Sangre Ridge Elementary School in Stillwater, said participating in the Building Healthy School Communities ECHO has given her a network of support.
“It allows us to have connected experiences with other educators and professionals in the field of health and movement that implement practical and worthwhile experiences for students,” Ehrlich said. “The abundant number of resources that have been provided to our group are an invaluable tool for creating and providing amazing experiences and opportunities for kids and their school and communities.”
In addition to the athletic training-sports medicine ECHO, Project ECHO worked with HPNRI to launch the strength and conditioning ECHO in early 2025 to elevate the profession of strength and conditioning in Oklahoma, ensuring coaches and trainers have the skills and knowledge necessary to enhance athletic performance, reduce injury rates and improve the overall health of their athletes.
The Building Healthy School Communities ECHO, a program that shares expert knowledge of best practices to build and maintain healthy school communities, had a successful pilot cohort and expanded to over 90 school districts joining the sessions.
With funding from the Brock Foundation, Project ECHO launched a first-of-its-kind, AI in Education ECHO to train educators and students on best and emerging practices using AI in the primary and secondary school environment.
“In 2025, we continued this ECHO, launching our second and third cohorts with Oklahoma schools and are now able to open the cohorts to all schools in the state,” Jackson said.
In the future, OSU- CHS Project ECHO will create other ECHO lines supporting the implementation of new technologies in health care and education.