The University of Rochester Medical Center is banking (literally) on a new strategy for extending its telehealth network into rural areas of New York.
In a partnership with Five Star Bank, Verizon, and digital health companies Higi Health and Dexcare, URMC is co-locating telehealth stations in Five Star branches across the western part of the state. The model aims to improve access to care for rural residents, especially those on Medicaid and Medicare, who face geographical and technological barriers.
Michael Hasselberg, PhD, URMC's chief digital health officer, says the health system came out of the pandemic seeing measurable benefits in a telehealth platform for rural residents, but most were using a phone to access care. In order to include Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, URMC needed to establish an audio-visual telemedicine link.
Tackling social determinants of health (SDOH)
There will be many benefits to this new model, and tackling SDOH is one. Co-locating a telehealth station in a bank gives URMC an opportunity to address several SDOH.
"Financial health is so closely tied to physical health," noted Hasselberg, who said a patient could be referred to the bank right after the telehealth visit for help understanding, planning for, and paying medical bills. "We might be able to affect healthcare access and financial instability at the same time."
Hasselberg sees plenty of opportunities to expand the program, not only to other bank branches and potentially other banks, but to assisted living and skilled care facilities, which struggle to connect their patients to the care they need. In addition, he sees more services being available through the kiosks, including chronic care management and follow-up care. They could even be used as access points for resident sot connect with local primary care physicians.
"We all went into this going, 'This may be a nothing-burger,'" he said. "And patients [may] go, 'I don't know about getting healthcare in a bank.' But what if it does work? That's the really exciting part. Because if this does work, it could be transformative. It could be replicated across other health systems and across other banks across the country."
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation, Technology, and Pharma for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
URMC is co-locating telehealth stations in Five Star Bank branches across the western part of the state.
The model aims to improve access to care for rural residents, especially those on Medicaid and Medicare.
URMC sees more services being available through the kiosks, including chronic care management and follow-up care.