Expanding Health Care Access in Rural Communities through Telemedicine: Opportunities and Challenges

Rural communities face challenges regarding access to health care providers and have historically suffered greater health disparities than urban communities. Telemedicine, the use of technology to deliver health care services from a distance, can improve health care access in underserved areas. Telemedicine can be an indispensable tool for rural health care systems and can bring specialized health care to remote areas of the country where specialty care was previously unavailable. Studies have shown that telemedicine can result in improved patient outcomes due to timelier access to specialists and can also result in substantial cost savings. Patients have also reported high levels of satisfaction with use of the technology.

While telemedicine can help reduce health care barriers, these new technologies have uncovered many legal and practical challenges that must be addressed. Providers face legal, regulatory, and practical challenges in extending services to rural areas through telemedicine applications. There are issues surrounding reimbursement, out-of-state professional licensing, liability, data privacy and security, and technological infrastructure in rural areas. This presentation will explore current telemedicine applications relevant to rural communities and will provide an introduction to the legal and practical issues implicated by telemedicine. This presentation is appropriate for anyone interested in telemedicine, rural health or health care access issues, including public health attorneys and public health professionals without legal expertise.