Jamie Monacelli: This is Med Talk presented by HCA Midwest Health. I'm Jamie Monacelli with Angie Lucchi, Vice President of Telehealth and Outreach for HCA Midwest Health. If you or a loved one lives in a rural area, you know more than anyone else that when you're sick you want and deserve the very best that healthcare has to offer. But with many rural communities losing their healthcare providers, HCA Midwest Health has developed the answer. Bringing healthcare to rural hospitals in partnership with physicians while also offering more high tech services. So Angie, we hear a lot that when patients are ill, they really want to be treated close to home. Is that true? Angie Lucchi: Absolutely. When you're sick, you don't want to travel and notably you want to see the physician and be at the hospital you're comfortable with. Additionally, research has shown that patients who have suffered a serious health event do better when they are near their home surrounded with friends and family. So as a mother and daughter to elderly patients, that's what drives my passion to be a part of making healthcare local. Jamie Monacelli: I think for a lot of listeners, they, maybe, have heard the term telehealth but don't know exactly what we're talking about. Can you explain it for them? Angie Lucchi: Sure. Telehealth is an electronic information or even telecommunications that support long distance clinical healthcare patients in professional healthcare. At HCA Midwest, we define this as an opportunity to provide remote clinical services to support patients where they live, work, and play and in many cases, this is in a rural community. Jamie Monacelli: So if I'm a patient or a loved one, what does that mean for me? Angie Lucchi: It can mean different services depending on what the need is. Let's take, for instance, a rural hospital. We know, of course, the critical importance rural hospitals play. They not only provide a much needed service, healthcare, but they also are sometimes the largest employee many times. They oftentimes are economic drivers of that community. So we all need rural health care to be there and be the best they can be. So how can HCA Midwest health support that? Well, in some areas, perhaps it's to provide the technology where they can beam in one of our incredible specialists with their own doctor there within that hospital and provide, let's say, a stroke consultation. Or in some cases we actually have a high risk pregnant woman who needs a delivery right now at the rural facility and we can support that hospital, beam in one of our neonatologists and safely provide that care to the mom and baby. Jamie Monacelli: So how do hospitals react and how do patients feel about this change? Angie Lucchi: Actually, very exciting and, in fact, we have three different buckets with outpatient, emergent, and non-emergent and all three play a key role. In fact, about 76% of all hospitals across the country now have telehealth and that includes the rural communities and inside of even our metro area. And so everyone's adopting it mainly because there's a shortage of specialists, especially in the rural communities, and this is the only way that they might have a neurologist that's able to see that patient that's having a stroke. So absolutely the hospitals welcome it. Jamie Monacelli: Do you think that telehealth is the way this was going to go with medicine? Angie Lucchi: What I can tell you is that based upon the incredible success that the rural healthcare providers and patients tell us, absolutely yes. It's a win, win, win for patients, physicians, hospitals, and the community. Look, Jayme, in my career, unfortunately I've witnessed more hospitals closing than opening. So how can we fix this? How do we assure that each and every person, no matter where they live, work and play, can feel like they can never have to worry about getting healthcare. Jamie Monacelli: And it's also, keeping people close to home. Angie Lucchi: Absolutely. When you're sick, after all, Jayme, nobody wants to get in the car and drive to the quote unquote city, or do you have to worry about how your grandparents going to get to the city when time matters most? So, no. So I am blessed to be a part of HCA Midwest Health who has figured this all out. Jamie Monacelli: This has been Med Talk presented by HCA Midwest Health. I'm Jayme Monacelli.