TIFTON — As part of a collection of future-focused presentations, a group of experts showcased the numerous benefits that telehealth services could provide rural communities like Tift County.

Hoping to promote discussion about moving the state into the next stage of its growth, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce hosted the second of its lecture series discussing the future of Georgia, choosing to focus talks on improving health care systems in rural areas.

A handful of experts from Augusta University were invited to speak on what telemedical services could do for rural health care patients, hospitals and practitioners.

Through AU Health, Augusta University has regularly employed telemedical strategies to aid the performance and growth of hospitals across the state.

While a typical medical routine for rural patients would have them connect with a doctor in a larger city, then likely receive treatment in that city, Dr. Matt Lyon, associate dean for experiential learning at the Medical College of Georgia at AU, claimed the process was flawed. He said it would inevitably deny growth to the rural hospital because patients would have skipped over their local hospital to be cared for in the city; it also isolates a patient from friends and family.

Through the use of telemedical strategies, Lyon said patients would be kept in their rural locations, surrounded by their existing networks and community, and would only be sent to a larger city hospital if deemed necessary.

The strategy, he proposed, would be mutually beneficial to all involved parties. It would create a more positive experience for the patient by not removing them from their community, would perpetuate an income flow and ensure growth for rural hospitals, and would keep care costs down for the physicians giving treatment, he added.

Employing telehealth systems could also have a positive effect on physicians practicing in rural areas, according to Douglas Patten, associate dean of MCGAU Southwest Campus.

Patten said medical professionals practicing in rural areas often develop some discomfort over the isolation, which could be remedied by employing telemedical services to allow them to connect with experts in other areas.

Michael Purvis, chief executive officer of Candler County Hospital, shared his positive experience with instituting telehealth services in his hospital.

Purvis said the COVID-19 pandemic revealed how much the critical care policies and procedures for caring for long-term patients needed to be updated and began talking with Lyon abut employing AU Health to initiate telemedical strategies at Candler.

Once processes had been put into place, Purvis recalled how compassionate and caring the telemedicine physicians had been, even under the intense and high-pressure circumstances, and how that performance had managed to increase hospital occupancy by 110%.

Purvis told an anecdote of a patient of his hospital, who had received telemedical care and been so impressed by the experience that he reported to his larger community that Candler County Hospital was not only thriving but had some of the best service in the area.

Lauren Williams Hopkins, director of population health and virtual Care at AU Health, expressed her interest in continuing to grow telemedical services and reach out to other hospitals across Georgia, stating her organization’s mission is to ensure rural hospitals are stable and viable in every facet possible.

“We want to keep the patients in their own communities,” Hopkins said. “We want to provide enhanced access quality care across all rural communities. We have created really strong relations with our hospital leaders, but also, too, we want to service our communities as well. We want to understand what those community goals and initiatives are, and how we can support them.”