UPMC Kane to Staff ED With Emergency Care Physicians Via Telehealth

Pittsburgh-based UPMC has launched a tele-emergency department at its UPMC Kane facility.

Launched earlier this month, this is the first tele-ED in Pennsylvania, according to the press release. Emergency care physicians at UPMC Hamot, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, will partner with on-site, trained advanced practice providers at UPMC Kane, in Kane, Pennsylvania, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The advanced practice providers, including physician assistants and certified registered nurse practitioners, will provide in-person care at the bedside while consulting with UPMC Hamot's physicians using video, audio, and examination technology.

"UPMC is committed to advancing access to quality healthcare for all our patients, wherever they live and work," said Donald M. Yealy, MD, chief medical officer and chair of the emergency medicine department at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in the press release. "This new model of care will meet the needs of the community today and into the future while using all available resources across our deep and talented workforce."

UPMC Kane is an acute care hospital that services a rural community with approximately 6,000 total emergency department visits each year. Meanwhile, UPMC Hamot is the advanced tertiary care regional hub for UPMC in northwest Pennsylvania and southwest New York, caring for nearly 70,000 patients in its ED yearly.

"Accessibility and long-term sustainability are the driving forces behind UPMC Kane's innovative model," said Yealy. "In rural communities across the country, the ratio of physicians to patients is approximately half that of suburban and urban areas."

Since 2010, 138 rural hospitals have closed across the country, and another 453 are vulnerable to closure, according to a recent report by The Chartis Group. This is expected to worsen access to care in rural areas.

There is also an expected shortage of emergency care physicians in rural areas. A study published in 2020 shows that urban emergency physicians were younger (median age 50 years) than those in large rural areas (median age 58 years), which means that the rural physicians are far closer to retiring than their urban counterparts, exacerbating the lack of emergency care in rural communities.

UPMC Kane's tele-ED program was made possible through its enrollment in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model. This model aims to transform care delivery by reimbursing participating rural hospitals through a global budget. As a participating hospital in the initiative, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allowed UPMC Kane to set up the tele-ED program.

Though telehealth use has become widespread after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, federal agencies had already recognized its benefits in rural settings, especially for emergency care.

In early 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services provided about $9 million in grants through the Health Resources and Services Administration's Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) for rural providers looking to use telehealth to improve emergency services.