Virginia Health System Strikes Partnerships to Expand RPM in Rural Areas

With the goal of improving rural healthcare, the University of Virginia Health (UVA Health) has announced that it will work with six community health organizations to implement remote patient monitoring resources.

UVA Health has been providing telehealth services for decades and its global network offers virtual care in 60 specialties.

With $700,000 in funds from the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Agriculture, UVA Health will provide at-home monitoring resources to six different partner sites. The community health sites are the Bath Community Hospital, Bland County Medical Clinic, Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems, Tri-Area Community Health, Central Virginia Health Services, and Monacan Indian Nation.

The efforts of five of the organizations center on caring for patients with heart failure, while Central Virginia Health Services focuses on assisting women who are likely to give birth prematurely. From UVA Health, these organizations will receive 40 reusable patient monitoring kits that include tablets, blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, and scales.

“Patients will be monitored on a more regular basis by trained professionals who can determine if something is changing or if a negative health event has happened,” said James L. Werth Jr., PhD, CEO of Tri-Area Community Health, in a press release. “This can prevent problems from getting worse or, in some extreme cases, may help save a person’s life.”

The community health partners hope to not only be able to provide patients with quality care remotely but also reduce travel time and lessen hospital readmissions.

“We can save patients travel time, and patients can connect with their healthcare providers through text messages and video as well as send photos and conduct virtual visits,” said Novella Thompson, UVA Health’s administrator for population health.

The six organizations also intend to share their experiences and best practices with RPM implementation, including dealing with hurdles such as connectivity issues, which plague rural areas.

Further, they will participate in UVA Health’s Project ECHO, which enables UVA specialists to offer primary care providers tele-mentoring and virtual continuing education sessions.

The implementation of telehealth in rural communities has been a major focus in recent years, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic curbed in-person care.

A study published in June found that using telehealth to create a pediatric referral system in rural areas was highly effective. Targeted toward patients in need of hearing care, the referral system directed them to specialists via telehealth. They study concluded that the system was helped increase the speed of follow-up care.

Another study also published in June found that telehealth resulted in a 20 percent jump in visit completion rate among rural residents. Researchers made this conclusion based on a sample of patient visit data, some of which came from virtual visits and some from in-person visits. They conducted a retrospective cohort study and concluded that visit completion was more likely to occur through telehealth.