Russellville Hospital to offer tele-health services for ER treatment of stroke symptoms, mental health

When it comes to grants and other funding sources for rural hospitals, Russellville Hospital CEO Chris Ware has learned to appreciate the assistance his facility does receive, rather than worrying about the funds it doesn’t get.

Case in point, last week’s announcement from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey that 138 grants worth more than $144 million, including a $1.29 million grant to Russellville Hospital,  was awarded to Alabama healthcare providers and institutions through the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program (ARHTP).

The program, funded with a portion of Alabama’s federal funds received through President Donald Trump’s Rural Health Transportation Program, created to ensure Americans’ access to quality health care doesn’t depend on their zip code.

More than $200,000,000 of no-match federal funding, administered in Alabama through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA, was available for projects that will directly improve healthcare access, quality and outcomes for Alabama rural communities.

There were 10  initiatives from which to apply, and Ware applied for two of them, the Rural Workforce Initiative, which was denied, and the Rural Health Initiative, through which Russellville Hospital received the $1.29 million.

Alabama rural health providers may reapply each year under what is expected to be a five-year program, and Ware plans to once again pursue funds for multiple initiatives, including the application for Rural Health Workforce, designed to help rural facilities become more competitive in hiring and maintaining quality healthcare professionals.

Focused on the grant Russellville Hospital was awarded, Ware said the $1.29 million will be used to establish two vitally important telehealth programs that will patients to receive more immediate treatment in mental/behavioral health and neurology, particularly in cases of patients brought in who exhibit stroke-related symptoms.

“I respect the process (of applying for grants) and our focus is not on what we didn’t get. Instead, we’ll focus on trying to maximize the benefits from the grant we did received,” Ware said.

“At some point we’ll reevaluate how we apply for the initiative we were not awarded, but we’re excited and appreciative on what these new 24/7 tele-neurology and tele-behavioral health programs will mean for our patients and our community,” he added.

With a target launch date of October 1st, the tele-neurology program  will immediately link someone coming in with stroke symptoms with an online neurologist. Russellville Hospital patients and emergency  room doctors and nurses will  consult with a University of Alabama Birmingham neurologist through a video conference that shares the same HIPAA protections as if they were meeting with the neurologist in-person.

“Our ER physicians and nurses will be there to assist the telehealth doctor, who may suggest a certain medication or diagnostic testing in cases where stroke symptoms are presented,” Ware said. “And if it’s not a stroke and it’s something we can handle here, we’ll admit the patient here. If it’s something like a hemorrhagic stroke, we’ll get the patient to the closest hospital with the required services.”

Time means everything in stroke cases and the new program will significantly reduce the waiting time for what could be lifesaving treatment or testing.

Similarly, Russellville Hospital’s tele-behavioral health program will reduce or eliminate waiting time for patients who come into the facility with mental health issues to receive a diagnosis and course of treatment from a UAB staff psychiatrist.

The UAB Hospital physicians will have privileges at Russellville Hospital as part of an agreement already in place between the two facilities.

Russellville Hospital currently has no behavioral health providers so this will be another significant addition of a discipline where time is of the essence.

“When we have someone come into our hospital or one of our clinics saying they’re suicidal or homicidal, the clinic provider can set the patient up within minutes with a tele-behavioral health professional through a secure line of communication,” Ware said.

Ware expressed his appreciation to Rep. Jamie Kiel for his support and assistance in securing these critical funds for Russellville Hospital.

From Kiel’s standpoint, he was pleased to see the variety of grant applications that were submitted by rural healthcare providers.

“These grants are intended to make a transformative, sustainable impact on healthcare in rural areas,” Kiel said. “That impact will come from our educational partners, hospitals, technology companies, EMS and others working together to stretch every dollar.

“My entire district is rural—from Cherokee to Spruce Pine and everywhere in between. And the health of folks in our area is every bit as important as the health of those folks who live in big cites. I’m thankful that President Trump included this in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and that Congresssman (Robert) Aderholt, Senator (Katie) Britt and Senator (Tommy) Tuberville helped get it across the finish line,” Kiel added.

Through the grant, Russellville Hospital also intends to improve health care accessibility for the community it serves.

Last year, a staggering 1,200 visits were missed for Russellville Hospital or its clinics. These were appointments, consults and diagnostic testing often missed due to patients being unable to afford the cost of getting to the appointments or lacking transportation to keep them.

Ware said Russellville Hospital will establish a chronic care management program to serve eligible patients who either lack transportation or can’t afford to travel to their appointments.

To qualify for chronic care management, a patient needs two diagnoses of distinct chronic health conditions.

The program will involve regular telehealth meetings with hospital providers to see how the patient is feeling, check the need for medication refills and provide necessary testing equipment like blood pressure cuffs, for example.

Additionally, the award includes funds for hospital to purchase a non-emergent transport vehicle, possibly a handicapped accessible van, to pick up patients and bring them to the hospital for diagnostic testing including an X-ray, CT or MRI, necessary as part of the patient’s ongoing chronic care management.

“We have people who just can’t afford to come in so they keep getting sicker,” Ware said. “On our side, we’ll be able to get those patients in and take care of them.”

The non-emergent transport grant includes all of Franklin County, as well as some patients living out-of-county but in close proximity to the hospital.

With the goal of these new programs going live the first of October, September will be a busy month for Russellville Hospital. They’ll purchase a transport vehicle, get the new telehealth hardware and equipment in, hire additional staff as well as training existing hospital staff on the new programs and hardware.

“We’ve got some work to do to meet our goal of rolling out these programs by the first of next year,” Ware said. “Our plan is to see these new programs self-sustainable after a year. We can sustain these important programs by seeing those 1,200 patients we’re not seeing now.

“Once this program is operational, we’ll be ready to pursue another initiative,” Ware added.