“Without telemedicine, rural healthcare has no future.”
This is made by Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association. This forecast is made even more dire by the ongoing challenges rural providers face with regard to telehealth utilization.
According to the University of Michigan, 34 percent of rural Medicare beneficiaries in 2020 were telehealth users, compared to nearly half of beneficiaries in non-rural zip codes ResearchMany rural patients saw much of this early-pandemic telehealth use as a temporary replacement for in-person care, so rural use is falling even more as the country moves away from lockdown days.
In a Tuesday panel discussion at HHS National Telemedicine Conference, Morgan called the fact that rural providers’ use of telehealth is lagging far behind urban providers “frustrating.” His organization found that as rural providers implement telehealth services, many are grappling with key questions about the patients they serve: Do they have broadband access? Do they know they can use telehealth services? Do they know how to use the technology needed to virtually connect to their caregivers?
While these issues remain thorny and represent problems that need to be addressed, Morgan declared, one thing is clear: Healthcare doesn’t need more data to show how telehealth can improve care delivery and patient satisfaction. He thinks the industry should focus more research on identifying barriers preventing telemedicine from reaching rural patients’ homes.
One of these barriers is undoubtedly connectivity. In fact, TonLack of or uneven broadband access is a major barrier to the disparity in telemedicine utilization between urban and rural areas. Panelist Rene Quashie, the Consumer Technology Association’s first vice president of digital health, noted that many healthcare leaders now see broadband access as a social determinant of health. While the data clearly show that telemedicine has great potential to reduce costs and improve health outcomes for rural populations, these results will not be achieved if patients do not have access to virtual care.
In addition to their efforts to address the digital divide, many rural healthcare providers do not adequately market their telehealth offerings. “There are some great communication tools out there for urban patients, and I don’t see rural patients,” Morgan said.
He and American Telemedicine Association CEO and panelist Ann Mond Johnson said that by working with local organizations and community leaders, communication about telehealth can be improved because patients are more likely to trust these messengers and hear from them.
As the health care workforce crisis intensifies, the need for programs designed to expand the use of telehealth for rural patients is particularly acute.
“If you’re in rural health care, you’re very aware that the pandemic has devastated the ruling workforce,” Morgan said. “It has completely shattered it.”
this NRHA The patient-to-primary-care physician ratio in rural communities is said to be 39.8 physicians per 100,000 people, compared with 53.3 physicians per 100,000 in urban communities, a gap exacerbated by the country’s ongoing shortage of healthcare workers.
Rural communities will not be able to train enough clinicians to serve their populations adequately, so rural providers must turn to telehealth to ensure patients receive care, Morgan said.
“The current state of the workforce leaves us with no other opportunity, but it’s a sad state of affairs that the federal government and private payers have to really drive the adoption and utilization of telehealth,” Morgan said. “There’s really no other option.”
Photo: Maria Symchych-Navrotska, Getty Images
