The General Assembly wants to address healthcare inequities in rural areas

Rocky Mount, Virginia – The Select Committee on Advancing Rural Healthcare of the Virginia General Assembly published a report in December that detailed the healthcare inequities that thousands of rural Virginias face.

The nonpartisan Committee on Rural Healthcare of the General Assembly was established to investigate and resolve the inequalities in rural Virginians’ access to healthcare. Because of their residence, tens of thousands of Virginians lack access to basic healthcare, according to the chair of the committee.

Delegate Rodney Willett, a Democrat representing Henrico County, chaired the select committee. He stated, “If you look at the statistics, not only do they lack more access to care in terms of providers and health systems including hospitals, but people in rural areas do not live as long as those in more urban areas, and that is just absolutely wrong.”

The group visited with hospital systems, free clinics, health centers, and other providers in rural parts of the state, according to Willet, as well as those affected by healthcare inequities.
According to the committee’s assessment, transportation is one of the main obstacles to receiving healthcare in rural areas.

In addition to geography, there is the real vehicle issue, where someone must find a car or a ride. Maternal health is perhaps the best example, especially when discussing follow-up health. According to Willett, if a pregnant woman is at risk, those crucial prenatal appointments may potentially be held once a week. “Moms are not making it to those visits in these outlying communities. They may not have a car or a ride, and in many of these rural regions, public transportation is definitely not available.

In hilly places like Franklin County, transportation can be difficult. Rocky Mount’s Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital provides a transportation system for both emergency services and the transfer of patients to a higher level of treatment or home from the hospital.

But according to the hospital, transportation is still a problem for residents of Franklin County.
Carl Cline, vice president and administrator of Franklin Memorial Hospital, stated, “There are still a lot of transportation problems in the County when it comes to getting patients to our hospital, to a doctor’s office, or to dialysis.”

The Carilion Hospital System’s Community Impact Manager is Molly Roberts. According to her, some of the community’s health issues are influenced by a lack of mobility.

Transportation and other socioeconomic determinants of health are closely linked to some of the most common health issues identified in the needs assessment. such as obesity, chronic illnesses, and problems with physical activity,” Roberts stated. People won’t be able to effectively manage the chronic illnesses that surface throughout the needs assessment process if they lack the transportation to get their needs satisfied. When considering the demands of the community, everything is closely related.

Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital is attempting to increase access to healthcare, according to Carl Cline. He noted that the hospital just doubled the capacity of its operating rooms. As a result, the hospital was able to expand its surgical staff from four to more than twenty-five.

We have increased access to care by doing that. The number of general surgery cases we handle here has increased. At Franklin Memorial, we’ve expanded our orthopedic practice, handled more ENT surgery cases, performed plastic surgery, performed bariatric surgery, and increased the number of OBGYN patients and the variety of cases we handle,” Cline added.

In November, the hospital also made its first use of Da Vinci robotic surgery, according to Cline. In the end, he said, the most important way to deal with rural healthcare is for clinics, hospitals, and other organizations to regularly interact and work together with local agencies and governments.

According to Delegate Rodney Willett, several measures and budget changes targeted at resolving rural healthcare challenges will be presented in the General Assembly’s current session. A strategy to remove barriers to telehealth choices for those without dependable internet is one example of this.

“At the moment, Virginia prohibits audio-only telemedicine in some situations. In certain locations, people may be able to contact a medical expert using a landline or cell connection. We’re going to try to reduce it since the law now doesn’t permit reimbursement for that for physicians,” Willett stated.

Additionally, Willett stated that he plans to introduce legislation to lower obesity rates in rural regions. According to him, the objective is to relax Virginia’s regulations on GLP-1 weight reduction medications.

“At the moment, you have to have diabetes or be really fat to be eligible for such medications. We’re going to attempt to reduce that bar and get more individuals on these drugs because it’s simply too high. It’s a crucial component of the solution to obesity, but it’s not the only one,” he stated.

Enhancing maternal health in rural regions will also be a major objective, according to Willett.
In Virginia, we have a fantastic group of midwives, but sometimes, due to regulatory obstacles, they are unable to do all of their licensed duties. We will attempt to equalize the playing field there. Midwives have been essential in rural regions; in Prince Edward County, where I’m from, they currently handle the majority of deliveries thanks to a fantastic system in place in Farmville. We will attempt to duplicate that in other regions of Virginia,” he stated.

According to Willet, enhancing rural healthcare is a bipartisan priority for the General Assembly.
“We are right there with the administration. Our speaker, a Democrat, is in the lead on this, but the House Republicans immediately joined in. I am aware that this subject is of great importance to my fellow senators. Therefore, you will observe results; we will make progress here; it won’t happen overnight, but we will make progress,” he stated.