Technology must be leveraged for equitable healthcare in rural areas.

In this episode, we feature Theresa Demeter, Managing Director at Tegria, who discusses healthcare challenges, specifically focusing on health equity and the disparities faced by people living in rural areas. She explains the difference between equality and equity, emphasizing the need to provide tailored resources and access to equal health opportunities in rural America. Theresa acknowledges implicit bias as a factor in healthcare disparities, underscoring the importance of involving affected communities in finding solutions. She considers addressing rural healthcare challenges and promoting health equity requires collaboration, interdisciplinary teams, inclusive thinking, and technology, the latter being a potential solution that must consider low health literacy, limited internet access, language differences, and cultural nuances.

Listen to this episode and learn from Theresa Demeter about health equity and how to apply technology to build a stronger rural healthcare system!

About Theresa Demeter:

Theresa Demeter is an entrepreneurial executive administrator with 30 years of healthcare performance and operational experience. As a Managing Director at Tegria, she brings her passion for conceptualizing and implementing innovative solutions that drive quality and performance improvement to optimize patient outcomes. Theresa developed Tegria’s offering that helps healthcare organizations prioritize and operationalize their health equity strategy and mitigate the harmful effects of implicit bias through macro-simulation. 

Prior to joining Tegria, Theresa drove the formation and expansion of InSytu, a national leader in clinical process improvement consulting powered by macro-simulation.

Things You’ll Learn:

• Equity aims to provide individuals with the necessary resources and access to achieve equal opportunities for optimal health.
• Health disparities in the US lead to excessive expenditure of $320 billion annually in healthcare costs.
• Rural health concerns sparsely populated, low-density areas located far from urban centers. About 97% of the US is classified as rural, with one in five people residing in rural America.
• Healthcare contributes to only 20% of overall health, while the remaining 80% is influenced by the community and shaped by an individual's social identity.
• Implicit bias exists in healthcare and can result in differential treatment based on race, necessitating recognition and addressing equitable care. Black individuals, for example, often experience delayed identification of sepsis, resulting in longer treatment times.
• In America, approximately 95% of the population resides within a five-mile radius of a pharmacy, including both large retail pharmacies and small local establishments.
• Technology holds promise for improving rural healthcare access, but it must be designed inclusively, considering factors like low health literacy, limited internet access, language differences, and cultural nuances.

Resources:

Connect with and follow Theresa Demeter on LinkedIn.

Follow Tegria on LinkedIn.

Explore the Tegria Website!

Listen to Theresa’s previous episodes on the Outcomes Rocket here!