In Brief:
This study suggests that innovative telehealth programs may help to address some of the barriers to rural public health practice.Georgia's Southeast Public Health District (SEPHD), like many rural public health districts, is struggling to cope with drastic cuts in funding and staff. Furthermore, like many rural public health districts, the SEPHD covers a vast geographic area. Effective communication and administration are ongoing challenges. A staff meeting or training may require practitioners to drive hundreds of miles. Besides being inefficient, this is unsustainable and environmentally unsound. In response to these challenges, the SEPHD has implemented a program that harnesses telehealth technology to connect SEPHD health departments and has been able to eliminate most administrative travel. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluated use of telehealth technology for this purpose. An evaluation showed that, each month, telehealth saves the SEPHD roughly $31?500 in mileage reimbursements and salary, SEPHD staff spends 650 fewer hours on the road, and 35?000 miles of driving are avoided.
