Small-city hospitals across Kansas often lack specialists to handle strokes and heart attacks. That limits treatment options for patients, and usually leads to transfers to larger hospitals often located hours away. Telemedicine is starting to change that. A few small hospitals are now connected, through video hookups, to larger hospitals with neurologists or cardiologists who can deliver critical care that simply can’t wait. From the Kansas News Service, Corinne Boyer reports on how telemedicine is changing rural health care and why it still faces obstacles.
The Kansas News Service reports on health, the many factors that influence it and their connection to public policy. Discover more at ksnewsservice.org.