The Positive Effects That Telehealth Medicine Has Had on Health Disparities in America’s Rural Communities

Health disparities occur everywhere. At any point when an individual is not receiving the best medical care that they should, they are considered to be suffering from a health disparity. There is no single ethnic or cultural group that does not endure some form of health disparity. One’s geographical location can be a major factor in the incidents of health disparities. Our nation’s rural communities have the highest rate of health disparities per capita. The main reason for this is their isolation. The health care facilities that do service rural areas are generally small and do not have the advanced treatment options or specialized care that larger facilities provide. Telehealth medicine is a tool that patients and medical providers can utilize to help overcome this obstacle to adequate health care for rural populations. Through the use of telehealth medicine, rural patients can be in contact with, and be treated by, physicians from other facilities. This technology helps to eliminate the need for traveling to these facilities, allows for much quicker care, and can be used to monitor the patient from their local clinic or home. The use of telehealth medicine has already proved to extremely beneficial in the lowering of health disparity rates in rural America. Keywords: health disparities, rural community, telehealth medicin