Rural healthcare is dwindling at an alarming rate, leaving a trail of lost and unseen patients and caregivers.

In more and more cases, care in rural communities now resembles care in emerging countries.

The good news is that we already have sufficient resources to increase access to care in these underserved communities if we embrace new technology that enables rural health systems to deploy their resources more strategically.

A Stark Divide

The rural healthcare crisis continues to escalate, driven by workforce shortages, shrinking resources, and systemic inefficiencies. Rural hospitals, once pillars of their communities, have been relegated to “treat and transfer” centers, stripped of the workforce and resources they need to thrive. Over the past decade, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed, with another 600 at risk. As larger health systems expand their urban presence, they draw patients, funding, and professionals away from rural areas, leaving small facilities to struggle to provide even basic care.

This imbalance has created a stark divide: major urban centers face hyper-capacity while rural facilities remain underutilized and inefficient. Rural hospitals, however, have the potential to play a crucial role in managing chronic conditions and post-acute recovery. The issue is not a lack of need, but a lack of specialist support and resources to guide effective care. Current reimbursement models and workforce deployment exacerbate this disparity, making it increasingly difficult for rural institutions to operate sustainably.

Rural communities rely on their hospitals, and when they close, residents are left with limited access to care, compounding issues like chronic disease management and recovery from critical illnesses. Rural nursing homes, similarly constrained by manpower shortages and inadequate funding, struggle to meet the growing demand for care. Addressing this crisis requires innovative solutions that bring expertise to underserved areas, empowering local caregivers to deliver comprehensive care while maintaining the viability of rural facilities. Without intervention, rural communities and their healthcare systems will continue to face collapse.

Hippo Coactive Care can help reverse this trend.

Telehealth Is Not Enough

According to a study in the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), rural hospital CEOs said the implementation of telehealth technology – or computer-based remote consultations between clinicians and patients – had improved perceptions of quality and satisfaction, but failed to improve their financial performance.

However, the CFOs at those facilities reported that limited reimbursement, low volumes, preference for in-person care, and insufficient broadband were key challenges to telehealth’s financial viability.

To make real impacts in revenue and patient care, rural hospitals need to evolve beyond simple telehealth transactions to remote virtual care that include in-person caregivers or “clinician extenders” – nurses, clinicians, or medical assistants who can assist with patient diagnosis and care, directed by remote specialists.

This evolution is what we call “Coactive Care.”

Coactive Care is the Next Generation of Virtual Care

The scarcity of needed expertise in underserved areas is a major problem threatening the survival of rural institutions. Fortunately, the advent of next-generation virtual care can bring this care to the patient and their local clinician.

While traditional telehealth can provide certain services, it fails in the management of complex conditions. When a patient is ill, especially a complex patient, the distant clinician might suggest that they see another doctor, but who and when is up to the patient. Access is frequently a real problem, and then the process starts over again.

Next-generation virtual care provided by Hippo allows for a collaborative, in-depth examination to the remote clinician’s satisfaction that enables a rural patient to be diagnosed and treated locally. This critical capability breaks telemedicine’s cycle of uncertainty, and removes the need for a subsequent referral to the next bottleneck.

How It Works

The Hippo Coactive Care platform revolutionizes rural healthcare by enabling remote collaboration and team-based care through Assisted Reality (AR) headsets. This hands-free, voice-activated technology provides a “you are there” virtual experience, connecting remote specialists with local caregivers and patients for real-time expert guidance and support.

Central to the model is the aforementioned Clinician Extender^TM who works directly with the patients while receiving real-time input from a remote specialist to facilitate diagnosis, education, and a care plan. This approach not only improves patient outcomes, but also supports early intervention to reduce medical complications.

Hippo Coactive Care transforms rural healthcare by addressing workforce shortages, enhancing access to specialty care, and reducing unnecessary hospital readmissions. Our platform effectively extends the capacity of specialty physicians by reducing (or eliminating) the cost and inconvenience of travel, and it empowers rural hospitals to become treatment hubs instead of referral centers, enabling patients to receive quality care locally.

Professionals from different disciplines, including caregivers and family, form a “circle of care” to work together to deliver comprehensive care for patients. This method improves accountability in point-of-care decision-making by providing immediate remote support and including the care circle in patients’ care plans, goals, activities, and outcomes. Strong caregiver relationships and in-person support encourage patient commitment and adherence.

By providing care to patients and, more importantly, helping patients provide their own self-care wherever they are, Hippo Coactive Care allows health systems to treat more patients, free up hospital beds, and ease the strain of additional infrastructure demands and operational complexities.

Ultimately, with its ability to bring specialists to patients in their homes, Hippo Coactive saves time, reduces costs, and enhances the quality of care, offering a sustainable solution for rural healthcare providers and their communities.

Taken together, these benefits not only save patients and providers time and money, they can also save lives.

Learn more about how you can leverage true remote collaboration and team-based learning to benefit your rural patients.