The Rural Drive-By...Not as Loud but Equally Deadly

Drive-By’s are happening every day in Rural America.  In this case, it's the resident driving by their local hospital in favor of the city.   Viewed as good enough for the sniffles, but not for more serious issues, rural medicine has an image problem.  Unfortunately, it's hard to make a living treating the sniffles.  Mixed with the sprains and cough, there needs to be cancer patients, heart disease and kidney failure.  And ultimately, as goes the hospital, so goes the economic health of the community.  The rural hospital is often the primary direct and indirect employer of the town.

Keeping the patients they can, sending those they can't

A rural hospital can not compete with their urban counterpart.  Size matters for sub-specialization. Academic center of excellence with cities.  These factors determine "brand" for the consumer.

Ideally, rural centers would work in close collaboration with urban centers .  I am not suggesting a moniker on a building ( "X" Community Hospital in partnership with University of Whatever).  There should be a close relationship where the patient sees equalivant care delivery.  

Ideally, patients would see and talk to their specialty nurses and doctors at their local facility.  Travel would be reserved for serious issues- surgery, advanced radiation.  Infusion, follow-up imaging and other recurrent services would be performed locally but overseen remotely.  This provides shared revenue model for the urban and rural center while the patient gets convenience and reassurance. 

Nerds don't live rural....healthcare as a managed service

Telemedicine (tmed) is an enabler of this vision.    With tmed, the patients can meet and review their results with an oncologist hundreds of miles away.  The nurse from the city can be there during chemotherapy.  When it's time for a bone marrow, it's time to drive.  

To date, tmed has been an expensive proposition.  First, there is all that equipment to buy, and then you have to find a nerd (to feed and water the technology). Nerds are hard to find in small towns.  But, things are changing.  The cloud, aka...servers in the sky, can delivery tmed to a PC or handheld, over a browser.  This frees providers to manage patients, not technology.

And , the timing is good.  The telcos are starting to see an opportunity.  Providers can purchase healthcare infrastructure as a subscription.  Get your movies, your EMR, your system for referral and collaboration, etc..all as a monthly subscription, everything kept up to date, HIPPA and HITECH compliant.  No local nerd is required.

Rural hospitals are integrally to the economic health of their communities.  Unless we want a country of urbanites, care delivery models must evolve. Rural centers should keep the patients they can and send only those they can't.   Collaboration enables better care, patient reassurance and revenue sharing.  Technology has evolved to execute on these business imperatives.  We just have to think about care differently.