Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health is teaming up with West Health, a group of nonprofits dedicated to lowering healthcare costs for seniors, to open the first emergency department for seniors living in a rural area.
Other health systems have created geriatric EDs, with protocols, resources and specialized care areas specific to senior patients, but this will be the first to serve a rural population, according to West Health. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to evaluate the possibility of using telemedicine to extend geriatric EDs to rural hospitals, creating the ability to scale the concept to rural hospitals nationwide.
"Seniors who seek treatment in EDs are often highly complex patients with various medical and social issues that are challenging for any ED, and can be especially challenging for rural hospitals with fewer resources," Scott Rodi, MD, interim section chief and regional director of emergency medicine at DHMC, said in a press release. "This partnership with West Health will enable us to work with our rural colleagues to provide specialized, senior-specific care to more patients throughout the region."
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