This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. James McElligott about the expansion of telehealth services in South Carolina. Dr. McElligott is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Medical Director for the Center for Telehealth at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. MUSC is recognized as a Telehealth Center of Excellence by the Health Resources and Services Administration, and has greatly expanded its use of telehealth over the past decade. Doctor James McElligott is here to talk about the expansion of telehealth in South Carolina. Doctor McElligott is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Medical Director for the Center for Telehealth at MUSC. Doctor McElligott, give us a brief overview of how telehealth is currently being used in South Carolina.
Dr. McElligott: Thank you so much for having me. It's something we're very proud of in South Carolina, of how much work we're doing to get more care out to our population. It's really being used a lot of different ways ever since the pandemic. The simplest way to say is in the outpatient setting. We're really trying to get more access out across the state, wherever you live. We're using telehealth tools and modalities to do that. We're also supporting hospitals. Many of our smaller hospitals struggle to get care and to support their communities. So, we're really making partnerships with it. And the third element is we're really helping chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, get managed more in the patient's home with less need to come into the doctor's office.
Conner: And you mentioned that telehealth is widely being used now in South Carolina to support hospitals. Tell us more about that piece of this telehealth puzzle. What's going on?
Dr. McElligott: For a long time, South Carolina has really focused on supporting hospitals with telehealth, meaning we can connect a mothership, larger hospital, to a smaller one. And it happens in multiple health systems in our state. But probably the champion service that really put us on the map, as doing this very well, would be Telestroke. So, in our state, you should really go to your local hospital if you're having stroke symptoms, because when you go to your local hospital, the emergency professionals have called us, at MUSC or another participating partner, and by the time you get there, we have a video visit set up. Any images you get done at the hospital will be transmitted to us, and we will be able to very quickly make that hospital, no matter how small, make the right decision to treat you very quickly.
Conner: And you mentioned that telehealth is being used in a big way to help manage chronic conditions. Tell us how it's working.
Dr. McElligott: So, a lot of times when we're talking about chronic disease management, we're talking about supporting the patient in between their doctor visits. And so, hypertension is a good example. If you can get enrolled in a program where you take your blood pressure at home and that result goes up to a cloud, we can have nurses reviewing your results in the background. And if your blood pressure is running high, they can give you a call and say, hey, did you take your medicine today? And they can assess if your medicine is working or not.
Conner: So now we're talking about quickly making adjustments to lots of different medications, not just high blood pressure, right.
Dr. McElligott: And not waiting to the next doctor visit to make that change.
Conner: And where might telehealth be headed in the future in South Carolina?
Dr. McElligott: A lot of people don't realize that telehealth is being used a lot now. An academic health system like ours, and in other places, 10 to 15% of all outpatient care might be happening via virtual means. And that means for us, perhaps more than a thousand video visits a day. In the future, it could easily double. So, a lot of our efforts now are focusing on uplifting people's knowledge and comfort with accessing care this way and making sure they have the means.
Conner: Doctor McElligott, thanks for this update about telehealth.
Dr. McElligott: You're welcome. It's always a pleasure to be here.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
