Resource Hospital: MUSC
Medical University of South Carolina
Barriers and facilitators to implementing a technology-enhanced psychiatric collaborative care model among rural primary care sites: a mixed-methods implementation case study
Utilizing the EPIS framework to inform the expansion of a novel virtual nursing model within a large health system
Transforming Specialty Care: Evaluation of a Virtual-Only Program
Implementation of a Primarily Telehealth Post-ICU Clinic
Webinar: Impact of an Inpatient Telepalliative Care Consult Service
Evaluating the implementation of a community engaged telehealth based intervention to improve health equity for the unhoused
Unhoused individuals experience numerous barriers to healthcare access and higher morbidity and mortality rates than housed individuals. In collaboration with community-based organizations (CBOs) and healthcare profession learners we developed a program involving in-person and telehealth visits at a CBO clinic and via street medicine outreach to address healthcare needs of the unhoused in a small Southeastern city. In its fifth year of operation, from January through April 2024, we evaluated the program using key stakeholder interviews (patients, CBO staff learners) guided by the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. A template analysis approach was utilized to evaluate barriers and facilitators to implementation outcomes. Results demonstrated consistent themes across stakeholders. Factors central to reach included advertisement by word-of-mouth, location convenience, and perceived service benefits. For learners, barriers to reach included clinic hours conflicting with academic schedules and apprehension of providing medical care in this setting. Regarding effectiveness, facilitating themes included opportunities for autonomy and enhanced understanding of treatment of underserved populations (learners) and improvement in health (patients, CBO staff). There were no consistently identified unintended negative consequences of the program. For adoption, all stakeholders described strong perceptions of trust in providers and the importance of team communication and coordination of care, in addition to the need to add disciplines included in the multidisciplinary care team. Facilitating implementation themes included comprehensive access for existing patients, while barriers identified were adequacy of access to social resources (housing, food, transportation) and continued increase in numbers of unhoused individuals outpacing available services. Themes facilitating maintenance included continued outreach efforts and integration into existing healthcare and community-based systems. The addition of additional services and specialties was consistently identified as essential to health status of the patients and an opportunity for growth of the program. This implementation evaluation involving key stakeholders of a community engaged telehealth-based intervention for the unhoused provides thematic considerations to guide program implementation and sustainability to improve health equity for vulnerable populations.
Opportunities to Alleviate the Health Care Workforce Crisis With Telehealth and Emerging Technologies
The U.S. health care system is facing a severe and worsening workforce crisis, characterized by a shortage of providers, geographic maldistribution of providers, and record levels of burnout. Telehealth is a promising solution to mitigate the workforce crisis. Telehealth modalities—in particular, virtual nursing, eConsults, and video visits—offer innovative ways to extend the current workforce, expand the geographic reach of providers, and maintain the existing workforce by reducing burnout and improving work-life balance. However, despite this potential, many telehealth programs are sub-scale due to limited coverage and reimbursement, insufficiently robust evidence, cultural barriers around adopting new technology, and other factors.
Even at full scale, telehealth alone will not meaningfully address the workforce crisis. Other emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), have the potential to significantly unlock workforce capacity. AI can assist, augment, and automate certain activities currently performed by clinical and administrative staff, thereby increasing efficiency and improving access. AI tools can streamline clinical documentation, enhance decision support, and automate routine administrative tasks, allowing providers to focus on patient care. AI tools can also be used to accelerate the adoption and impact of promising telehealth models by enabling significant gains in efficiency through automation.
This report was developed by Manatt Health and the National Telehealth Center of Excellence at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) as a part of a collaboration to understand and describe opportunities for telehealth to address the emerging health care workforce crisis. Manatt and MUSC conducted background research, interviewed 20 telehealth and workforce leaders, and convened these experts for an in-person expert roundtable in Washington, D.C., in February 2025. Participants represented a diverse array of health systems, provider associations, health technology companies, and workforce researchers. The findings and opportunities outlined in this report represent a combination of research and the input provided by participants. The views expressed here are solely those of Manatt Health and MUSC.