How can technology improve healthcare access? Donna Dittman Hale, Executive Director of Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance, joined The Rural Health Voice to discuss plugging into telehealth.
Ms. Hale was one of the speakers at the 2020 Rural Health Voice conference. To view the video presentation that led to this interview, visit the Rural Health Voice conference and register for the event. You can choose to just watch just one, or all five of our excellent speakers.
Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance wins $900,000 in Federal funds to establish Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium
Telehealth Network to Bring Additional Telehealth Services to Virginia’s Eastern Shore
Tappahannock, Virginia: Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance (BRTA) has been awarded federal grant funds of $900,000 over 3 years for its development of the Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium (ESTC). This grant establishes a sustainable consortium designed to build a telehealth delivery system infrastructure to promote increased resources, innovation, and coordination of health services on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
The initial project for ESTC is to help coordinate services for individuals living on the Eastern Shore, with mental health and substance use disorders(SUD) and/or opioid use disorder(OUD) by linking treatment resources through telehealth. Over the next three years, ESTC will work with community partners to increase the use of evidenced-based and culturally appropriate OUD/SUD interventions through telehealth-enabled innovations.
The federal funding comes from the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services Rural Health Network Development Program which exists to increase access to healthcare in rural areas through the expansion of telehealth technology.
BRTA and ESTC will partner with Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, Eastern Shore Community Services Board, Eastern Shore Regional Jail, Eastern Virginia Medical School and the Virginia Department of Health to create the Consortium. If any agency is interested in learning more about the Consortium and partnering opportunities, please contact Donna Dittman Hale.
BRTA’s executive director, Donna Dittman Hale, said “We are excited to support the organizations on Virginia’s Eastern Shore to enhance the system of care with technology, telecommunications and integrated systems of care.” BRTA hired Mary Ochsner to lead the ESTC. As former director of the Senior Perspectives program at RSMH, she has proven ability to pull together community service providers to support the health of community residents.
The mission of the Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium is to increase access to healthcare for all people on the Eastern Shore by offering a telemedicine delivery model and supporting virtual health projects. The vision is for telehealth to contribute to better health and well-being for all populations in Virginia’s Eastern Shore Communities.
Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance is a mature telehealth network whose vision is for virtual health strategies to contribute to better health and well-being for populations in Virginia communities. BRTA will serve as a mentor and fiscal agent to foster the growth and success of the Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium.
Vision: BRTA’s vision is for virtual health strategies to contribute to better health and well-being for populations in Virginia communities.
Mission: BRTA’s mission is to help its Members serve communities by supporting virtual health projects that improve health and health care.
Value Model: BRTA will deliver value by helping our Members and partners serve their communities through: a) virtual health strategies that improve access to services, consumer experience, clinical impact, operational effectiveness, and financial viability; and b) health professions education and workforce development initiatives.
Core Principles: BRTA’s core principles guide our strategic decisions about projects and partnerships. We value project opportunities that are:
Community-focused
Collaborative
Scalable, and
Sustainable.
Bridges to Cardiovascular Population Health
Bridges to Cardiovascular Population Health addresses the health-related challenges to overcome the geographic and economic barriers faced by patients in rural communities.
The goal of the project is to: expand the delivery of health care services in rural communities to improve population health and demonstrate health outcomes and sustainability, integrating remote patient monitoring, behavioral health and chronic disease self-management training in primary care physicians’ offices, in a rural area.
HRSA RHO Grant Number: D04RH31770
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program
Comprehensive Opioid Response Through Behavioral Health Networks grant is designed to use telemedicine to address the opioid crisis in rural Virginia.
The goal of the project is to: address the issue of opioid addiction by increasing the capacity of the behavioral health services system in the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck and Eastern Shore regions of Virginia, extend the reach and technical capability of behavioral health providers so that assessments, consultations, and counseling are available in remote areas, provide professional development for providers as well as medical and human service professionals, replace obsolete video equipment in order to improve video capability at rural hospitals, continue the primary care and specialty care visits currently provided, incorporate the opioid assessment, education, and related activities of this new proposal.
USDA RUS Grant Number: VA 713-B58
School-Based Telehealth Initiative
School-Based Telehealth Initiative: BRTA works with the Northumberland, and Westmoreland County Public Schools to bring healthcare services directly into schools giving students in these rural areas greater access to healthcare. The school-based health services focus on improving access to care, plus behavioral health. HRSA TNGP Grant Number: H2ARH30289
Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium
The Eastern Shore Telehealth Consortium grant establishes a sustainable consortium designed to build a telehealth delivery system infrastructure to promote increased resources, innovation, and coordination of health services on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
The initial project for ESTC is to help coordinate services for individuals living on the Eastern Shore, with mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) and/or opioid use disorder (OUD) by linking treatment resources through telehealth. This consortium is designed to build a telehealth delivery system infrastructure to promote increased resources, innovation, and coordination of health services on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
HRSA RHND Grant # D06RH37494
Community Bridges Collaborative
The focus of the Community Bridges Collaborative is to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with substance use disorder (SUD) and opioid use disorder (OUD) by expanding the capabilities of the behavioral health services infrastructure, instituting and enhancing evidence-based and evidence-informed practices, and providing workforce development opportunities and telehealth-enabled innovations to increase access to services in our service area.
HRSA RCORP Grant Number: GA1RH39537
Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance is a membership organization including Riverside Health System, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Bay Aging, Middle Peninsula/Northern Neck Community Services Board, Rappahannock Community College, Bay Workforce Investment Board, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Eastern Shore Community Services Board, Eastern Shore Rural Health Services, Central Virginia Health Services, Virginia Department of Health (Three Rivers and Eastern Shore Districts) and the Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic. Click on any of the logos below to get more information.
Please review the privacy practices of Riverside Health System and the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board. We understand that information about you and your health is personal. Because of this, we are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your health information. We continuously seek to safeguard that information through administrative, physical and technical means, and otherwise abide by applicable federal and state guidelines.
Presented by:
Christy Helsel, RN
Telehealth Program Director, Riverside Health System
David A. Collins, MHA,CPHQ, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, CLSSGB
Practice Administrator , Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
This educational video was funded through a grant by the Virginia Department of Health, Office of Health Equity through MOA Number: 557V632596
Ever hear the terms telemedicine or telehealth and wonder what they mean? Using state of the art video technology, telemedicine transforms the way you can receive health care by connecting you directly to your health care provider no matter where you are. At home, in the office, or far away on vacation, telemedicine saves money and time by bringing health care and health coaching directly to you.
Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance (BRTA) is pleased to be named a Rural Health Community Champion for innovative efforts around the use of evidence-based models from US Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program. There were over 130 nominations detailing impressive work in rural communities across the country. BRTA has also been distinguished with an honorable mention in the category of creative partnerships.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Rural Health Care Services Outreach program expands health care delivery in rural areas based on evidence-based or promising practice models. HRSA Administrator George Sigounas, MS, Ph.D. “These organizations are an essential part of the health care system because they understand their local communities, are able to fill significant health care gaps and ultimately improve the quality of life for those living in rural America.”
Tappahannock-based Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance Bridges to Care Transitions project was built around a creative integration of three evidence-based models of care with Remote Patient Monitoring, in order to improve access to and quality of rural health care among an older population with chronic illness and high rates of hospital (re)admission: The Coleman Model®, The Healthy IDEAS Model, and The Stanford Model for Chronic Disease Self-Management.
The ultimate goal of the Bridges to Care Transitions project is to assist patients in developing chronic disease self-management skills to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits or hospitalizations, as well as to understand when to seek primary care. In working with its project partners, Bay Aging, which provides Care Transition Coaching and Healthy Ideas, Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Service Board, Professional Support and Mental Health Services, Riverside Center for Excellence in Lifelong Health – Evaluation Team, and Riverside Health System – Remote Patient Monitoring, BRTA has been exploring a number of strategies to sustain the project beyond the lifetime of the grant. BRTA has successfully integrated telehealth and face-to-face healthcare for both physical and behavioral health among our rural population in the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck and Eastern Shore, whose access to healthcare has been severely limited by provider shortages, long travel distances, and poverty.
BRTA has created significant impact in improving health and healthcare access, quality, and affordability through its Bridges to Care Transitions project. It is estimated that at least $919,200 in net savings has been achieved when taking into considered the cost savings for in-patient care, transportation, personal care, and caregiver and community services. Remote patient monitoring and care transitions coaching, including chronic disease self-management education and behavioral health screening and treatment, have improved health care. Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance is a non-profit network working to connect healthcare providers, patients, educators, and consumers and their families to a comprehensive continuum of care using telehealth technologies. Members of the Alliance include Riverside Health System, HCA Capital Region Hospitals, Bay Aging, Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board, Rappahannock Community College, Bay Workforce Investment Board, and Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Bay Rivers Telehealth Alliance serves a 12-county area with a diverse, largely rural population.
• The geographic components of the area are the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula, west to Richmond and outreached to the Eastern Shore.
• The counties in the Northern Neck are Lancaster, Richmond, Northumberland, and Westmoreland.
• The counties in the Middle Peninsula are Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Essex, Mathews, and Middlesex.
• The counties on the Eastern Shore of Virginia are Accomack and Northampton.
• The region is characterized by closely knit communities, surrounded by waterways that border the Chesapeake Bay.