Innovative Technology Allows Healthcare Providers to Extend Reach, Delivering Care to Remote Residents in Rural Areas
The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and St. Luke's Health System have been pioneering the use of telemedicine to revolutionise healthcare in rural areas. Over the past 15 years, UMMC has been at the forefront of this technological revolution, and in 2017, it was named a Centre of Excellence for Telehealth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In rural Alabama, MainStreet Family Urgent Care has been offering telemedicine services since fall 2017, expanding to primary care last summer. St. Luke's Health System, based in Boise, Idaho, treats patients throughout Idaho and eastern Oregon.
The benefits of telemedicine in rural healthcare are numerous. Telemedicine programs help link rural patients with distant specialists, reducing the need for long and costly travel. For instance, St. Luke's Health System has used telehealth to manage high-risk pregnancies and neurological conditions, enabling rural patients to receive timely expert care without leaving their communities. Similarly, UMMC has utilised telemedicine to provide specialty consultations and training to rural primary care providers, enhancing local capacity to manage complex cases and reducing unnecessary referrals.
Telemedicine initiatives contribute to better outcomes by enabling early intervention. Tele-stroke programs reduce delays in treatment by providing rapid access to neurologists, minimising the need for emergency transfers. Telepsychiatry services at UMMC help address mental health shortages in rural areas by delivering timely crisis intervention and continuous care without requiring travel.
Beyond clinical benefits, telemedicine also improves patient satisfaction and safety by providing convenient access and lowering exposure risks during infectious disease outbreaks. It reduces financial burdens related to travel and missed work for rural residents, making regular care more sustainable.
UMMC's telehealth program extends to adult and pediatric diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, adult and pediatric asthma, and high-risk pregnancies. The carts are equipped with standardized devices on a Cisco network, including Dell computers, Logitech webcams, Cisco Unified Communications cameras, Cisco SX20 codecs, and digital stethoscopes and otoscopes.
St. Luke's telemedicine system is designed with redundant processes to ensure a reliable experience, and it's scalable and standardized for growth. Their remote specialty clinics use monitors, webcams, headsets, electronic health records, and a stand-alone Vidyo virtual video infrastructure to deliver care to remote patients.
In a study conducted by UMMC in the Mississippi Delta in 2014, the effectiveness of digital tools for diabetic education and care was determined. The study resulted in zero hospitalizations and ER visits related to diabetes after six months, saving $339,000. St. Luke's also has a similar remote patient monitoring program for patients with diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and COPD.
MainStreet's telemedicine platform uses a bot to search for the least busy exam rooms and matches patients accordingly. UMMC Center for Telehealth Director Michael Adcock offers advice for launching a successful telemedicine program, including focusing on problems to solve, developing the clinical solution first, finding providers interested in telehealth, learning connectivity, licensure, insurance, and regulatory requirements, and talking to a comparable hospital or clinic with a successful telemedicine program.
In summary, the benefits demonstrated by UMMC and St. Luke's Health System include expanded specialty care access, cost and time savings, improved management of complex and emergency conditions, enhanced local provider training, and higher patient satisfaction and safety in rural populations. The National Rural Health Association reports an average of 263 specialists per 100,000 people in urban areas compared to only 30 in rural areas, highlighting the urgent need for telemedicine initiatives in these areas.
- The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has been leveraging telemedicine technology to extend its services beyond its physical location, offering specialty consultations and training to rural primary care providers, as well as managing high-risk pregnancies and neurological conditions in rural areas.
- In an effort to improve health-and-wellness outcomes, MainStreet Family Urgent Care has been integrating telemedicine science into their services, using digital tools for diabetic education and care, and employing a bot to streamline patient scheduling in rural Alabama.
