Rural America faces a unique set of healthcare challenges. While 20% of Americans live in rural communities, only 10% of physicians practice in those areas, leading to shortages that drastically limit access to care. With the United States expecting to face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians over the next decade and over half of the rural physician workforce already over the age of 55, these gaps are at risk of worsening over the coming years without the proper solutions to address them.
Telehealth has emerged as a vital tool in bridging care gaps for rural communities, offering patients a lifeline that extends the reach and quality of healthcare services. Maintaining telehealth services in these areas is critical, as they equip physicians with the resources they need to prioritize patient-centered, cost-effective, and timely interventions that would otherwise be inaccessible.
The successful integration of telehealth’s capabilities into rural healthcare systems hinges on strategic partnerships with technology companies and improved payment parity, ensuring that doctors can provide equitable and quality care for rural patients.
Telehealth Advances Healthcare Outcomes in Rural Communities
Rural communities not only face a shortage of physicians but also a significant lack of access to specialists, creating a gap in healthcare services. Telehealth alleviates this burden by allowing rural patients to receive specialized care without the need to travel long distances. Patients report greater satisfaction with telehealth visits, citing more ample discussion time and improved communication with their physicians, increased access to care, empowerment to manage their own conditions, and decreased costs as top benefits.
For physicians, telehealth platforms facilitate collaboration among practices. A rural practice can virtually consult with specialists in metropolitan areas, ensuring that community patients have access to timely, specialized care. Considering that in rural areas, there are only 30 specialists per 100,000 residents compared to the 263 specialists per 100,000 residents in urban areas, this collaboration can also reduce the workload and high burnout rates among local physicians by expanding the network of available providers.
Georgia is a prime case study where telehealth technology could drastically benefit rural physicians and patients alike, but the state has one of the lowest rates of adoption in the country. In Georgia, there are only about 12.33 physicians available per 1,000 patients, illustrating the state’s need for access to sufficient resources for an improved healthcare system. In a state where approximately 21% of the population lives in a rural community, Georgia faces many of the same challenges as other rural communities across the country in accessing specialty services, driving disparities in care and presenting an urgent need to break down barriers to access. A robust telehealth platform would help rural physicians virtually consult with specialties in metropolitan areas like Atlanta to provide patients with timely, well-informed, and impactful insight from doctors without extensive travel or delays, regardless of their location.
Empowering Care Through Strategic Technology Partnerships
Partnering with the right technology companies that can strengthen telehealth capabilities with comprehensive tools and solutions is an essential step for rural practices to take in delivering high-quality remote care.
Technology partners assist in setting up the necessary infrastructure, offering training and technical support, and ensuring that telehealth systems are properly maintained and optimized. By providing the necessary IT infrastructure, telehealth networks, and technical support needed to best serve patients, they empower healthcare providers to focus on patient care and feel confident that they have the reliable technological backing they need to improve patient outcomes.
Pharmaceutical, medical device, and digital therapeutics companies are increasingly investing in telehealth’s potential to advance care, from cutting wait times to see providers to streamlining prior authorization processes. In rural communities where specialists are scarce and local physicians’ availability is limited, improved technology supports providers in remotely monitoring patients, assessing risk factors, prescribing testing and medications, and delivering treatment interventions effectively.
Through customized solutions for local needs, technology companies can collaborate with rural healthcare practices to develop tailored telehealth solutions specifically designed to address the unique challenges facing their communities, from general primary care needs to tools for more specific disease states like diabetes or heart disease that require closer monitoring.
The benefits of these partnerships are clear: telehealth adoption has grown significantly over the past five years due to these strategic collaborations, exemplified by a 20% increase in hospital use of telehealth from 2018-2022, demonstrating the importance of continued investment in technology to sustain and expand telehealth capabilities.
Protecting Telehealth Access Amidst an Uncertain Future
Despite telehealth’s benefits for rural communities, its future remains uncertain. Although Congress passed a continuing resolution this March to extend Medicare coverage of telehealth services through September 2025, the lack of certainty for coverage following that date could impose drastic effects on patients who rely on telehealth services to receive care, especially in rural communities. For telehealth to remain sustainable for years to come – and to ensure the 40% of Medicare beneficiaries that live in rural areas can properly utilize telehealth services – these flexibilities need to be protected and extended properly to ensure as many patients as possible can reliably access services.
Further, the lack of payment parity and comprehensive coverage for telehealth services serves as a barrier to wider adoption. It is imperative that payments for telehealth services are on par with in-person visits to ensure that healthcare providers can continue to offer telehealth services without financial disadvantage.
The bottom line is that telehealth’s potential to transform rural healthcare is immense, and widespread adoption among rural communities will have lasting impacts on health outcomes. Realizing this potential requires a concerted effort across the healthcare ecosystem to provide equitable care no matter where a patient resides. Technology partners, healthcare providers, and policymakers must collaborate to ensure they can build a healthcare system where location is no longer a barrier to quality care and telehealth is at the forefront of this transformation.
About Dr. Zia Khan, MD
Dr. Zia Khan, MD serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Privia Medical Group— Georgia. Additionally, she owns and operates a multi-provider practice, Peachtree Medical Center, in Tyrone, GA and is a second-generation internal medicine physician. She is also active in the long-term care space and serves as medical director for post-acute facilities.
