HJAR Jul/Aug 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  JUL / AUG 2021 41 Yuba Acharya, MD Interventional Cardiologist CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic Arkansas - Hot Springs GEOGRAPHY MATTERS when it comes to healthcare. Beyond the implications of be- ing unable to access quality emergency care when they need it, many Arkansans in rural communities face the prospect of three or more hours in a car round trip for a simple in-person checkup with their cardiologist or other specialist. When it comes to main- taining heart health, particularly inArkansas which suffers from one of the highest car- diovascular disease rates in the country, that geography becomes a significant and some- times life-threatening roadblock for patients. Following the quick pivot to telemedicine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs is now leveraging that same technology to better provide ex- pert, compassionate care to heart patients in medically underserved communities across Southwest Arkansas. Rural Southwest Arkansas is already rec- ognized as a medically underserved area with very limited access to resources. That’s why the role CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs plays in the region has become so vitally important. That extensive cardiology care headquar- tered in Garland County effectively serves the entire Southwest Arkansas region along with a network of outreach clinics, but in some cases, that still means hours in the car or even an overnight stay for some patients depending on the level of care required. That becomes burdensome even for healthy pa- tients, let alone those managing chronic heart conditions, and in some cases, we know those barriers can lead them to forego regular care. “While the COVID-19 pandemic made so many other things like sitting down with your doctor more difficult with restrictions on travel and social distancing guidelines, it also opened up new opportunities for telemedicine services.” together to provide comprehensive care. Ensuring Everyone Has Access to Compassionate Care We’ve come a long way in a short period of time, and at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, we want to continue that momentum and lead the way in heart care by shifting from procedure-driven to program-driven care. Every patient, regardless of where they live in our state, deserves the benefits of our collec- tive knowledge as cardiologists and health- care professionals, not just the knowledge of those who live nearby. The challenges of geography can and will still pose challenges. Telemedicine will not replace the quality of an in-person visit with your cardiologist in every case or for every condition, but with telemedicine and other advancements, we are taking strides to ensure that patients can receive quality and timely care wher- ever they live. We must all also recognize that this is just a beginning. Telemedicine remains a relatively new tool, which will inevitably see improve- ments and advancements as we go forward. We have established the use case, and further innovations will follow. I, for one, am proud to know that we’re raising the bar for the quality of care for patients across Southwest Arkansas, and I look forward to what comes next as we continue to put our patients first. n YubaAcharya, MD, is an interventional cardiologist at CHI St. Vincent Heart Clinic Arkansas - Hot Springs and part of the CHI St.Vincent Heart Institute. The thing is, patients in those areas are still having heart attacks, they’re still having problems and they still need care. Growth of Telemedicine in Heart Care Telemedicine is not new in Arkansas, but it has faced an uphill battle in terms of adop- tion over the years both by patients andmany healthcare providers. While the COVID-19 pandemic made so many other things like sitting down with your doctor more difficult with restrictions on travel and social distanc- ing guidelines, it also opened up new oppor- tunities for telemedicine services. Not only were more doctors exploring new ways to incorporate telemedicine into their practice, but patients who would have been reluctant the year before were suddenly open to sched- uling their first virtual visit with their doctor. Our patients who travel to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs already benefit from access to the state’s largest and most diverse network of heart specialists. As colleagues, we already confer and share insights or individual expe- riences on patient conditions as part of that complete continuum of care. With telemedi- cine, though, we can take it a step further in order to provide the best, most compassion- ate care to patients. Instead of conferring with a colleague myself over a patient’s condition, nowmy patient in rural Southwest Arkansas can connect directly with a specialist at the CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock. Our shared goal is focused completely on the in- dividual patient’s care. It’s not just an individ- ual doctor, but a team of specialists working