Center of Excellence Awards Telehealth Grants to Increase Rural Healthcare Access

As it approaches its first anniversary, the Tennessee Rural Health Care Center of Excellence at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences is again expanding healthcare access in rural communities by awarding $135,000 in telehealth grants to six rural health providers or organizations across the state. Each of the six grants totals $22,500.

"The Tennessee Rural Health Care Center of Excellence is proud to support organizations that are leveraging telehealth to improve access, enhance patient outcomes and address healthcare disparities in rural communities," said UT Health Sciences College of Nursing Dean Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, who is principal investigator for the Center of Excellence. "These investments reflect our commitment to advancing innovative models of care that meet people where they are."

Established with a $12 million grant from the Tennessee Department of Health, the Center of Excellence plays a key role in administering and supporting grants distributed to organizations addressing rural health concerns. The center awarded seven planning and implementation grants totaling $1.75 million to groups across the state in March.

The telehealth grants recently announced represent a continuation of the center's support for local solutions to rural healthcare needs. "Telehealth can make a real difference in rural communities when it is built around the needs of the people and providers who live and work there," said Center of Excellence Director Matt McDaniel, MPH. "These awards give organizations across Tennessee the tools to strengthen the care they already provide, and reach patients who might otherwise face barriers to receiving the services they need."

Putting the Funding to Work

Dr. Zaidi & Associates, a rural physician practice based in Lauderdale County, will use the telehealth equipment funding to establish a Rural Telehealth Access Network (RTAN) to expand specialty care for patients in the counties that the practice serves. Grant-funded equipment will convert two existing exam rooms into fully equipped telehealth suites to support real-time specialty and behavioral health consultations. The service area for RTAN will be Lauderdale, Tipton, Dyer, Crockett and Haywood counties.

"This grant is an investment in the health and future of our rural communities," said Syed A. A. Zaidi, MD, president of Dr. Zaidi & Associates. "For more than 25 years, our mission has been to provide exceptional care close to home for the people of rural West Tennessee. Because of this grant and our partnership with UT Health Sciences, patients across Lauderdale, Tipton, Dyer, Crockett and Haywood counties will have greater access to specialty and behavioral health services without the burden of traveling long distances."

Shawn Pruitt, PharmD, owner of Pruitt's Discount Pharmacy LLC in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, will use the telehealth equipment grant to expand his pharmacy's outreach program, Wheeling and Healing.

Dr. Pruitt plans to develop and deploy a rural clinical outreach suite that provides high-fidelity, diagnostic-quality telehealth to maternal and infant patients and chronic disease patients. The clinical outreach will serve Hardeman, Cannon, Coffee, Rutherford and Wilson counties. The initial goal is to serve between 50-100 patients in each of the five counties, he said.

"This equipment we have been granted will be a tremendous help because part of what we do is limited by the scope of what we have," Dr. Pruitt said. "This will greatly expand the infrastructure of the types of services that we are able to do."

Higher Ground Counseling, LLC, in Unicoi County, plans to use its telehealth equipment funding to support a hybrid, technology-enabled Juvenile Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). This program will deliver a minimum of nine hours per week of structured programming including group therapy, individual counseling, crisis intervention and family therapy. The hybrid IOP will serve patients in Unicoi, Carter, Green, Washington and Johnson counties.

Madisonville Primary Care Group received funding to purchase remote patient monitoring equipment such as connected blood pressure cuffs and blood glucose monitors to expand its chronic care management, principal care management and remote patient monitoring programs. The new equipment will serve patients in Monroe, McMinn, Loudon and Polk counties.

Tennessee Oncology plans to use its award for equipment to expand reliable access to specialty supportive oncology services across additional clinic sites. Tennessee Oncology provides comprehensive cancer care across Tennessee through a network of more than 35 clinics, many of which serve rural communities. The service area for the grant includes Maury, Montgomery and Hamblen counties.

The Beersheeba Springs Medical Clinic in Grundy County serves uninsured and underserved people regardless of their ability to pay. The clinic plans to use its grant to create an on-site telehealth hub, where patients can connect with remote healthcare providers while receiving support from staff at its Grundy County clinic.