News Release
Telemedicine Can Help Safety-Net Providers Expand Specialized Medical Services
Jul 29, 2020
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Telemedicine, or the provision of health care services at a distance by means of telecommunications technology, can improve access to care by bringing medical care into communities with limited access to providers or facilities, reduce wait times, and improve convenience. However, when telemedicine is offered in safety-net settings, it tends to be a low-volume service. To explore this issue, the California Health Care Foundation invested in the Sustainable Models of Telehealth in the Safety Net (SMTSN) initiative, which was in place from 2017 to 2020 and provided funding for telemedicine staff for 24 months. RAND researchers evaluated the experiences of health centers that participated in the initiative. Although the SMTSN initiative and this evaluation occurred before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically altered the regulation, reimbursement, and use of telemedicine services across the health care system in spring 2020, the findings presented in this report are relevant to health centers that are trying to rapidly expand telemedicine in response to the pandemic. Also, the barriers and strategies identified in the evaluation are likely to have ongoing relevance once some of the changes in place for the duration of the emergency are rolled back.
Chapter One
Introduction and Background
Chapter Two
Staffing, Programmatic, and Process Changes Implemented to Expand Telemedicine During the Initiative
Chapter Three
Barriers Experienced in Expanding Telemedicine
Chapter Four
Impact of Health Center Activities on Telemedicine Volume and Realized Access to Telemedicine Services
Chapter Five
Sustainability
Chapter Six
Conclusions
This research was funded by the California Health Care Foundation and conducted by the Access and Delivery Program within RAND Health Care.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation research report series. RAND reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.