Rural hospitals and health systems are continuing to face significant challenges like rising costs, low reimbursement rates and workforce challenges. In fact, a recent report found that there are about 418 rural hospitals currently at risk of closure.
"When you look at these small facilities, most of them operate on a tiny margin; you're talking typically 1% to 3%," Brian Weis, MD, PhD, professor and interim regional dean at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, told Becker's. "They're vulnerable at any given time."
To help combat these ongoing issues, Amarillo-based Northwest Texas Healthcare System and Lubbock-based Texas Tech Health Sciences Center's Amarillo campus are using their partnership to ensure education and provide outreach to providers in rural communities, with focus on obstetrics.
"In 2021, a regional critical access hospital closed down its OB program, forcing pregnant mothers to have to drive over 60 miles to Amarillo to deliver their babies, posing significant health risks to both mother and baby," a joint release on the partnership shared with Becker's said.
In the event of a patient with a high-risk pregnancy coming into an emergency department without dedicated OB coverage, Northwest Texas and Texas Tech's partnership training focuses on teaching care providers how to stabilize patients and monitor vital signs to ensure a safe transfer to Amarillo so that higher-level care can be provided.
"Texas Tech also operates a trailer that has been outfitted as a roaming training unit to take to rural facilities to allow their staff to receive hands-on training in a simulated setting," the release said.
With behavioral health services remaining another crucial need in rural areas, Amarillo-based Northwest Texas Behavioral Health Hospital has expanded its telehealth capabilities to ensure that patients can take part in group counseling sessions, even after they've been discharged, to avoid unnecessary readmission.
"The technology is a vital part of how we create better access. The people, the technology, and certainly the work that we try to do in terms of care offerings," Jason Barrett, CEO of Northwest Texas Healthcare System, told Beckers.
Other initiatives to improve rural healthcare from the two healthcare entities include a newly created Center for Telehealth and Digital Innovation at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. The program, which was supported with $10 million from state apportioned funds, aims to improve primary care, specialty care and wellness access for resource-lacking areas.
"How can we create those networks that allow patients to even stay at home, use their cellphone and talk to our providers?" Dr. Weis said. "That's where our new institute of digital innovation comes in."
Another area of rural healthcare focus for the partnership is tackling workforce challenges.
"A lot of these community facilities are very nice facilities, but staffing is their challenge and particularly physician or provider staffing," Dr. Weis said.
In an effort to keep physicians in Texas, 66% of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center trainees that pass through its program stay in-state to practice medicine.
Calling it a "collective effort," Mr. Barrett said that while a lot of the partnership is based on mission-driven goals and providing services, it's having a strong academic partner like Texas Tech that helps in advancing rural healthcare.
"It's just a matter of centers like ours being very conscientious about taking care of those facilities," Dr. Weis said.