5 New Telehealth Training Sites to Open in Arkansas, Tennessee

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is aiming to advance telehealth training through the opening of five satellite locations of its South Central Telehealth Resource Center.

Part of the UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, the South Central Telehealth Resource Center serves Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The resource center is staffed by telehealth professionals who provide education and training for healthcare organizations and educational facilities interested in using the care delivery modality. The center is part of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers, which is comprised of 12 regional and two national centers.

UAMS will open four satellite sites in Arkansas and one in Tennessee. They are:

• UAMS Northwest Regional Campus – Fayetteville
• UAMS East Regional Campus – Helena-West Helena
• University of Tennessee Health Science Center – Memphis, Tennessee
• Arkansas Rural Health Partnership – Lake Village
• Jefferson Regional Medical Center School of Nursing – Pine Bluff

"Through technology and innovation, UAMS has the opportunity to train more healthcare professionals who will provide our communities with quality health through digital healthcare across multiple states," said Joseph Sanford, MD, director of the UAMS Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, in the news release.

The satellite sites will be funded by a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a one-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which amount to more than $1.8 million.

Hari Eswaran, PhD, director of the South Central Telehealth Resource Center, will oversee the launch of the new training sites, which will be equipped with remote patient monitoring devices and digital health tools and resources.

"As we continue to integrate healthcare and technology to care for patients, the South Central Telehealth Resource Center allows us to develop more professionals who can deliver care through digital health and ultimately reduce barriers in accessing quality healthcare in our three-state region," said Eswaran, in the news release.

One of the key areas of focus for the South Center Telehealth Resource Center is eliminating health disparities in the Arkansas Delta, and the new locations will also work toward this goal.

Telehealth has often been touted as a way to help reduce the care gaps that plague rural communities in America by increasing access to care, including more specialized care, regardless of distance.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, telehealth use skyrocketed, even in low-resource settings. Between June 26 and Nov. 6, 2020, 30.2 percent of weekly visits at federally qualified health centers across the country occurred via telehealth, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like other healthcare organizations, UAMS, Arkansas' only health sciences university, conducted a record number of telehealth visits last year — more than 100,000.

Telehealth is expected to remain a popular form of care delivery into the future. A recent survey, conducted by GoodRx, shows that a majority of both U.S. providers and healthcare consumers plan to continue using telehealth.