Texas Lawmaker Eyes Telehealth Program for Rural 911 Services

A Texas lawmaker is calling for a pilot project that would use telehealth to train and assist emergency responders in rural parts of the state.

State Rep. Drew Darby last month introduced HB 76 87(3), which calls on the state to launch a “Next Generation 911 Telemedicine Medical Services and Telehealth Services Pilot Project” through the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. The project’s goal is to give rural EMS providers a connected health resource to improve treatment and care coordination in the field.

The bill is one of many efforts to use connected health tools and platforms to improve triage services, usually by connecting first responders to healthcare providers and specialists. Through virtual care channels, EMS providers can improve care in the field and also make better decisions on whether to transport a patient to a hospital, take him or her to an alternate site of care or help schedule an appointment with a care provider.

Darby’s effort targets a considerable challenge to healthcare access in rural America – the lack of providers within easy travelling distance – and a barrier to care in Texas, roughly a quarter of which is considered rural. Telehealth has long been seen as a solution to that challenge by allowing rural providers to access real-time support from distant health systems, and several federal and state programs have been launched in Texas in the past that use telehealth to improve care access.

The bill also touches upon the fast-growing trend of mobile integrated health (MIH) programs that use telehealth and mHealth to create partnerships among care providers and public health agencies, as well as community paramedicine programs that push care services delivered through EMS providers and paramedics.

One of the more notable programs was launched in Texas. In 2016, the Houston Fire Department unveiled Project Ethan (Emergency TeleHealth And Navigation), a platform that links the city’s fire and rescue first-responders with a call center manned by physicians.. When dispatched on a 911 call, an EMT can use a Panasonic G1 tablet to open a video chat with an emergency physician, who can speak to the patient, access medical records and advise whether the patient needs to be transported.

Darby’s bill would, through Texas Tech, create a network of “regional trauma resource centers” that would connect with rural EMS programs through telehealth “to provide emergency medical services instruction and emergency prehospital care instruction.”