New Broadband Program Helps Rural Texas Hospitals Improve Care and Save Lives
In partnership with: Texas Department of Agriculture
In dire need of an emergency room doctor and unable to recruit one, Culbertson Hospital in Van Horn, Texas, a designated Level IV trauma center and the only hospital in a four-county area, had no choice but to rely on an expensive staffing agency for patients needing acute care. All that changed when the facility partnered with a telehealth group of ER doctors. Now, hospital staff can press a button and, in just a minute or two, an emergency physician appears on a screen, ready to consult with them.
“This has allowed the hospital to keep their ER open, serve their community and save desperately needed funds at the same time,” says Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), which houses the Texas State Office of Rural Health.
Other rural Texas communities are also facing health care challenges. Due to a shortage of facilities and providers willing to work in rural areas, patients often must drive long distances for medical care. Many Texans lack insurance coverage, transportation, reliable internet connections, and the money to pay for services and medications. Health care providers encounter barriers too, including cost and a lack of necessary training and support for new technologies.
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The Culbertson Hospital’s success is just one example of how internet technology, and TDA’s new Texas Rural Hospital Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP), are helping patients access the health care they need. In 2022, after teaming up with Connected Nation, a nonprofit working to help communities close the digital divide, to survey rural Texas hospitals about gaps in broadband delivery, TDA obtained nearly $24 million for BIP. It is currently being implemented statewide.
“Broadband plays a major role in allowing hospitals, including small rural ones, to provide quality patient care,” Miller says, “whether that be from a local doctor being able to easily access all of a patient’s medical records or the rural health facility’s ability to bring a specialist in for a consult with a click of a button.”
Ultimately, BIP, Miller says, is intended “to help our rural Texas hospitals with improved connectivity and IT network upgrades that will get them to where they need to be and to provide the best care they are able to provide to the communities they serve.”