Programs and Interventions Addressing Access to Healthcare in Rural Communities
Seven critical interventions are being developed to address Access to Healthcare in rural communities. These include “delivery models, freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs), community paramedicine, community health worker (CHW), affiliation with larger systems or networks, efforts to improve the workforce, and telehealth” (RHI Hub, 2022, para. 70).
Past Interventions: Successes and Challenges in Improving Rural Healthcare Access
The Rural Emergency Hospital is a program developed by Medicare in 2023, which seeks to improve access to outpatient care and emergency care in rural regions (RHI Hub, 2022). Many of these measures have not been tried properly before, and the Rural Emergency Hospital program showcases how recently such approaches have been realized.
The main barrier is funding and resources since the US healthcare system is resistant to the expansion of Medicare. However, telemedicine has been implemented in recent years successfully. It is stated that “the most striking finding is the rapid pace of adoption in mental health facilities; the percentage offering telemedicine nearly doubled, from 15% in 2010 to 29% in 2017” (Barnett & Huskamp, 2020, p. 197). In other words, this approach is being implemented quickly in rural regions; thus, more people in such places are getting access to mental health services.
Defining Access to Healthcare: Data and Facts Highlighting Rural Health Priorities
It is important to note that access to healthcare has a specific definition. It is stated that “access to healthcare in America defined access as ‘the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes’” (RHI Hub, 2022, para. 1). The fact is that one-fifth or more than 60 million of Americans are the member of rural communities, which means it is a significant bulk of the population. Compared to an urban resident, a rural one needs to travel an extra 40 miles for drug or alcohol addiction treatment and an extra 20 miles for standard inpatient care (United States Government Accountability Office, 2023).
In addition, there is a massive difference in the general health condition between urban and rural residents, where the latter fares worse. Many health conditions require regular visits, which are hard to do when a person needs to travel great distances or quick treatment, which means a rural resident might not make it in time. Thus, increasing access to healthcare within rural regions themselves is a priority area since it affects a big chunk of the American population.
Current and Future Evidence-Based Interventions for Rural Healthcare Access
One current evidence-based intervention is medications for opioid use disorder or MOUD through telemedicine. It primarily uses drugs, such as buprenorphine and methadone, to treat opioid addiction, and it was shown that “telemedicine may enhance access to MOUD with similar effectiveness compared with face-to-face treatment” (Chan et al., 2022, p. 539). As a result, for a doctor to effectively treat a patient, his or her physical presence near a patient is not necessary with the technologies of today. Instead of traveling great distances for a doctor’s appointment, a rural resident can get treatment through telemedicine services.
Resources Needed for Healthcare Interventions in Rural Communities: Anticipated Barriers and Solutions
The main resources needed are funding, healthcare workers, transportation, and technology. The core challenges and barriers include social stigma and privacy issues, poor health literacy, broadband access, health insurance coverage, workforce shortages, as well as distance and transportation (RHI Hub, 2022). For telemedicine, the primary problems are the technology and healthcare workers.
In the short term, healthcare providers must allocate and create services for telemedicine workers who specialize in telehealth specifically. For example, I can improve my technology literacy and skills related to telemedicine. In the long term, there needs to be a comprehensive policy and restructuring of what medicine is in America, where telemedicine has become a mandatory part of healthcare education and practice.
References
Barnett, M. L., & Huskamp, H. A. (2020). Telemedicine for mental health in the United States: making progress, still a long way to go. Psychiatric Services, 71(2), 197-198. Web.
Chan, B., Bougatsos, C., Priest, K. C., McCarthy, D., Grusing, S., & Chou, R. (2022). Opioid treatment programs, telemedicine and Covid-19: A scoping review. Substance Abuse, 43(1), 539-546. Web.
RHI Hub. (2022). Healthcare access in rural communities. Web.
United States Government Accountability Office. (2023). Why health care is harder to access in rural America. Web.