November 03, 2021 – The USDA has awarded Corizon Health a $967,356 grant to expand distance learning and telemedicine services to rural areas. Telehealth is a key strategy Corizon has employed successfully for nearly twenty years, to supplement and enhance on-site healthcare services programs.
The Distance Learning and Telemedicine program helps rural communities use the unique capabilities of telecommunications to connect to each other and to the world, overcoming the effects of remoteness and low population density. In the correctional environment, telehealth facilitates collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem, regardless of where healthcare providers are located. This is particularly important in instances where the facility is in a rural or remote area where the number of healthcare providers and specialty services available is limited or in some cases nonexistent.
Telehealth is accomplished with the use of special equipment and a video conferencing platform to speak to and evaluate patients via video conferencing. It is swiftly becoming the wave of the future for nursing care, nursing interventions, client teaching, and provider consultation. Provided by licensed and credentialed practitioners, telehealth allows an increase in the level and timeliness of services that can be provided on-site, reduce off-site transportation, provide services in urgent/emergent situations, improve the overall quality of care we provide for patients, eliminate backlogs if they arise, and enhance the pool of potential providers, while at the same time remaining fiscally accountable.
There are many different types of nursing and medical services that can be provided remotely. The basics of the nursing process – assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation of outcomes – still apply. The only difference is that the care is provided remotely, rather than in person. Some of the services which lend themselves telehealth in the correctional setting are intake, history and physical, sick call, care for patients with chronic conditions, mental health care, specialty consults, and provider-to-provider consultation.
About Corizon Health
Corizon Health, based in Brentwood, TN, is a leading provider of correctional healthcare services in the United States, providing quality healthcare services to states, counties and municipalities across the country for more than 40 years. Corizon offers comprehensive solutions for medical care, behavioral care, pharmaceutical and re-entry services. For more information, please visit www.corizonhealth.com.
