What Rural Hospitals Can Teach Their Urban Counterparts About Patient Engagement

For all hospitals, healthcare IT (HIT) must figure prominently in their route to recovery.

For rural hospitals, necessity is the mother of invention when improving patient engagement and outcomes while protecting revenue. Rather than wrangling multiple disconnected HIT platforms, the most innovative rural providers have adapted by deploying unified, interconnected cloud-HIT platforms that combine electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management (RCM), health information exchange (HIE), and telehealth solutions. In other words, one patient, one record.

But having access to a first-class HIT platform is the ultimate prize for more than just rural hospitals; it’s critical for all providers in any setting. In fact, larger, urban hospitals are taking a page from the rural hospital playbook, modernizing their EHR systems with solutions that are focused on interoperability to maintain a complete picture of their patients’ healthcare history and needs.