More than 500 rural hospitals in the United States face an immediate risk of closure due to financial losses and a lack of monetary reserves to support the operation’s bottom line. According to The Center for American Progress, although only 14% of Americans—or about 46 million people—live in rural areas, these areas account for almost two-thirds of the nation’s primary care health professional shortage areas. This translates to a shortage of over 4,100 primary care professionals in rural areas.
While dire in rural areas, urban environments are not unscathed. Retention rates are at a steady decrease nationwide. Before 2022, around 73% of physicians stated they were likely to stay in their current position. Physician retention decreased to 59% in 2023 and 46% in 2024. As a result, the financial commitment to retain physicians continues to weigh on all healthcare systems, nationwide.
As healthcare evolves, telemedicine provides a new avenue to improve access to care. It offers financial sustainability for hospitals and a better balance for their healthcare providers, boosting retention rates, reducing costs, retaining patients and expanding specialty services.
1. Limit Patient Transfers – Patient transfers drain revenue from rural hospitals and compromise the patient’s continuity of care. With telemedicine, nurses and PAs can connect patients to critical health services, ensuring patients receive timely care close to home. By retaining acute care capabilities locally, hospitals enhance patient care and satisfaction and keep revenue within their communities. At Goodland Regional Medical Center, Eagle Telemedicine’s services allowed the hospital to retain patients who would otherwise have traveled to distant facilities, boosting admissions, improving satisfaction and securing critical revenue streams.
2. Fill Gaps in Patient Care – Physician shortages and limited overnight coverage often lead to care gaps, resulting in lost revenue and patient dissatisfaction. Many telemedicine programs address the gaps with cost-efficient tele-nocturnists for night shifts and on-demand specialists for timely consultations. Eagle Telemedicine helped Mary Greeley Medical Center fill the gap with tele-neurology and stroke services. The hospital faced an overwhelming administrative burden from credentialing numerous rotating physicians in various specialties. Even still, the limited nephrology specialists created an unsustainable on-call schedule, risking burnout and key-provider loss. After turning to Eagle, they have achieved consistent, reliable coverage and improved continuity of care.
3. Lower Recruiting Costs – Recruiting physicians is expensive and competitive. Telemedicine services ease recruiting and slash costs by providing a network of specialists without geographic limitations or the added cost of employing locum tenens. It allows hospitals to serve their communities without investing in high salaries or lengthy hiring processes, reducing overall staffing expenses. For instance, GRMC, a rural Kansas hospital, struggled to recruit specialists due to its remote location and budget constraints. By joining Eagle’s Rural Care Alliance, GRMC replaced the need for full-time specialists with telemedicine services, allowing patients to access cardiologists, neurologists and other specialists remotely. This hybrid healthcare model and continued partnership lowered recruiting costs significantly while maintaining high-quality care delivery.
4. Reduce Staff Physician Attrition – We have seen how improving physicians’ work-life balance reduces burnout and improves job satisfaction. At Eagle Telemedicine, we helped Riverside Health System physicians find the breath of fresh air they needed. Their on-call neurologists could not keep up with patient volume. Often, a neurologist would need to cover multiple hospitals during their shift. As a result, patient response times were slowed, especially during the night shift, and physician retention rates were taking a hit. After implementation, retention rates improved, and the health system’s door-to-needle time was reduced from 47 to 35 minutes with an average four-minute connection time. The hospital stepped in to support its staff before burnout became bleak. With telemedicine, most hospital staff now have an increased work-life balance.
5. Reduce the Cost of Care Delivery – No matter the industry, scalability is everything. Telemedicine streamlines care delivery by enabling hospitals to scale physician resources as needed. Instead of hiring additional full-time staff to meet unpredictable peak demands, telemedicine provides on-demand support. This reduces overhead costs and enhances operational efficiency, saving money and the staff’s time.
“Eagle elevated our level of care, at the same time helping us to grow revenue.
Thanks to Eagle, we’re o¬ffering more care with less financial strain.”
-Dr. Joseph Joyave, AdventHealth Chief Medical Officer
Telemedicine offers an avenue to cut costs without cutting quality. With millions saved through telemedicine, a growing body of evidence shows how this tool can offer hospitals savings in every avenue: hospital management, physician work-life balance and patient care. If your hospital wants to improve patient health, physician satisfaction and long-term financial sustainability, contact Eagle today.
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