term delivery (<37 weeks) lived an average of 40 minutes
away from their delivering facility. According to the CDC, ma-
ternal mortality rates in metropolitan areas was 18.2 per
100,000 livebirths and in rural areas 29.4 in 2015. In 2014,
Georgia’s Governor Deal created the Rural Hospital Stabiliza-
tion Committee to identify needs of rural hospitals and to
provide grants for solutions. Upson Regional Medical Center,
with the only L&D in a 75 mile radius, was a 2016 grant recipi-
ent. The hospital allocated a portion of its grant money to
implement MFM Telemedicine, which they used to decrease
patient bypass, improve patient compliance, generate new
revenue, and upgrade the technology. The grant funded tele-
medicine equipment, set up fees and ultrasonographer train-
ing costs. Women’s Telehealth and URMC worked to imple-
ment the MFM program and have achieved astounding re-
sults in their first year. most refined data collection instruments, but on the “patient
comment” section to identify opportunities in operational
and clinical workflow. Patients have had clear, effective, sim-
ple and amazing ideas about how to improve their own tele-
medicine encounters. If only we would all listen!
Methods: Results: The survey response rate was 78%. Results showed
that 87% of patients’ scores were “satisfied” with their MFM
telemedicine visit. However, their free form “comments” led
Women’s Telehealth to make numerous and immediate oper-
ational and clinical improvements, including: adding 2 new
service lines, making two technology changes, instituting spe-
cific provider on camera training, adding virtual medical assis-
tants, website modifications, virtual queuing, and clinical
tasking post encounter .
The use of new, non-cart, cost effective technology
configurations
Long distance ultrasonographer training to upgrade OB
imaging skills
Early involvement of all partnership stakeholders
Use of a single transparent “RoadMap” across all entities
Results: The program took < 6 months from the initial
meeting to GO LIVE in March of 2017. During the first 90 days
> 65 MFM referrals were generated and 72 encounters com-
pleted. Yr 1 projections show that >400 MFM telemedicine
encounters are expected. URMC reports the project has
demonstrated new MFM revenue, patient community reten-
tion and positive patient satisfaction. The total cost for pro-
gram deployment was <$25K.
Conclusions: States that help rural hospitals overcome initial
telemedicine costs can expect early success and self-
sustaining telemedicine programs to solve access to OB
care gaps.
27. Incorporating Direct Patient Feedback
to Accelerate Operational and Clinical
Workflow Improvements
Tanya Mack