Pennsylvanians living in rural areas can expect to see more in-person telehealth visits through Geisinger.
Through a nearly one million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development, Geisinger will roll out virtual nursing at two clinics in the Danville area.
Pennsylvania’s USDA Rural Development Director Bob Morgan looks forward to Geisinger’s project. Through USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant, he said patients in Montour and Northumberland counties will have better healthcare.
“It doesn’t eliminate the need to having to travel for, y’know, a more advanced treatment. [But,] this is a way to keep people healthy and in-check, and to be able to make their appointments. And in some of those cases, provide services that…may not have been available in their community,” said Morgan.
Besides improving patient care, Geisinger’s Senior Program Director of Nursing Derek Godino said the grant will support in-person teams as Pennsylvania’s nurse workforce shrinks.
“Pennsylvania is projected to have one of the largest nursing gaps. In fact, it’s expected that over 30 percent of the nursing workforce will retire within the next five to ten years,” said Godino.
That estimate comes from a 2021 study by Mercer, a nationwide consulting firm.
Through this new program, patients will still get physical examinations by medical staff, but will talk to nurses through a virtual interface for intake forms or to ask questions about their care. Godino hopes the program will cut down on patient wait times while increasing nurses’ efficiency. Nurses will not have to be in-person, or even in the office, to provide medical care.
“Although needed to be completed by a nurse, [it] does not need to be done in person. When we complete tasks in person, we’re often interrupted in our daily work. But as a virtual team, we’re able to have that one-on-one interaction with our patient that is not interrupted by some of the external forces that we have in the in-patient care setting,” said Godino.
He added that the program may help older nurses stay in the field if they need to take a step back from working in-person.
“Our virtual nursing team are skilled and equipped to the same level and expectation as our bedside teams are. In fact, many of our current virtual nurses are nurses who would have found themselves retiring potentially this year or next year due to the physical demands of bedside care. They’re now able to stay engaged in their career,” said Godino.
Geisinger is figuring out what the program will look like – whether patients will use tablets, smart TVs, or even artificial intelligence (AI) for their care.
Vice President of Digital Transformation Becky Stametz said that AI’s role in healthcare will continue to grow in the coming years. However, she warns providers to use caution when implementing it into their practices.
“You have to be super careful to do that. And how we apply it in a safe, and compliant, and effective manner is going to be key. I do believe that we’ll probably see AI somewhere in the scope, if not in the beginning or the early stages, but potentially down the road,” said Stametz.
Geisinger has not announced a launch date for the project at their Danville location. They plan to announce a timeline in the coming weeks or months. Their grant is part of USDA Rural Development’s announcement of $4.7 million for Pennsylvania through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant. For a map of past and present winners across the U.S., go to USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Recipients website.
