New Approaches to the Tough Problem of Rural Healthcare Access
A recent start-up announcement is generating buzz that rural health may be the next big thing in digital health innovation, and may foreshadow where future investment will flow. The new entity, Homeward, will focus on improving access to high-quality primary and specialty care in rural areas, starting with the Medicare population. This bucks the trend of disruptive digital health companies building services in dense urban centers to start – for example, Amazon Care, which will service 20 major metro areas by the end of 2022.
Roughly 20% of Americans reside in rural areas across the country – that’s 57 million people.
Low access to care is a major issue for many, due in part to the fact that just 12% of physicians practice in rural communities. Patients often must travel far distances to seek care, which requires both time off from work and the ability to travel. Access to specialists for those with complex medical needs can be especially problematic. For employers with workers living in rural areas, a focus on access is a critical component of a successful health and benefits strategy.
Virtual care can improve access and save workers time and effort in getting the care they need. Further, many virtual care entities integrate physical and behavioral health, which may offer a more holistic approach to care than a person would be likely to receive locally in a rural community. Retail pharmacies that act as “community hubs” (like CVS pharmacies) are another way to address the rural access issue, particularly when combined with virtual care delivery. An important advance for rural healthcare access is the ability to connect with specialists via digital channels. These services are not always consumer facing, but may connect rural-based PCPs to specialists for consults, as in RubiconMD’s model.
Before jumping feet first into a virtual care strategy for rural populations, it’s important to consider the potential barriers. Utilization of virtual care services is typically much lower in rural populations compared to urban populations. The root cause might not be resistance to the service itself, but rather the infrastructure to support it – a third of rural individuals report that broadband computer access is an obstacle to using telehealth. Employers may need to focus first on more fundamental infrastructure investments to ensure that their rural populations can access virtual services. Subsidizing broadband, and working with local rural communities to improve internet access, may be a good way for employers to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility.
If you’re an employer with a rural footprint, it may be enlightening to compare the level of care accessible to workers in rural areas to those in more urban centers – especially since, with digital health investment flowing to opportunities related to rural access, we can expect to see more solutions coming to market.