“It is challenging to provide specialty health care in rural areas, and this is especially true in Indian Country,” IHS Principal Deputy Director Mary L. Smith said, referring to the rural nature of the patient population, such as in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

"It will save money, it will save trips, I'm thinking it will even save lives," Willie Bear Shield, chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Health Board, told the AP. "This is the first time I've heard good news on something that we've actually wanted to do all this time. They heard us. They listened to us."


And for rural hospitals facing staff shortages on night shifts, telemedicine may also prove a boon, according to a new HCB News report, which noted that facilities that have made use of one of Eagle Telemedicine’s solutions have realized nearly 40 percent savings on nighttime coverage.

“The interest from rural hospitals in telemedicine is exploding,” Dr. Talbot McCormick, president and CEO of Eagle Telemedicine, told HCB News.

Eagle will discuss the impact of telemedicine in rural health care delivery at the National Rural Hospital Association’s 15th Critical Access Hospital Conference this week in Kansas City.

The global telemedicine market is estimated to have a CAGR of 16.76 percent, hitting $48.985 billion by 2021, up from the present $19.336 billion, according to market research WiseGuyReports.

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