Rural hospitals may be harmed if they don't offer virtual care

An interesting study published in Review of Financial Studies finds that "...as urban telehealth providers acquire rural patients, rural hospitals experience decreased revenue and profit, credit rating downgrades, increased cost of capital, and ultimately risk of closure."

The observation was that urban providers who reach their rural patients via telehealth cause rural patients to bypass their closest rural hospitals in favor of the urban hospitals.

One obvious solution to this problem is for rural hospitals and clinics to implement virtual care solutions that enable patients in their region to connect with providers affiliated with them.

It turns out that the HealthTap Medical Group (HTMG), working in HealthTap's?Virtual Primary?Care clinic is available to be the?virtual primary?care service that acts as an affiliated provider group who directs rural patients back to the affiliated local hospital— and HTMG is active in all 50 states!

If you know of a hospital that is considering expanding their local reach with a?virtual primary?care solution, please tell them they can reach us via email at?[email protected].

Sources:

• Lack of telehealth services hurts rural hospital finances TechTarget
• Financial Effects of Remote Product Delivery: Evidence from Hospitals Review of Financial Studies

#virtualprimarycare #ruralhospitals #HealthTap