Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center - Richmond, VA

Specialty Care Access Network Extension of Community Health Care Outcomes

SCAN ECHO is an exciting new program that creates communication opportunities and expanded services to the rural and underserved communities through video conferencing between community providers and the Richmond VA Medical Center.
This creates an exchange of information between specialists at the medical center and rural providers who will be providing complex care to their patients.

The conferences are provider to provider focusing on a variety of specialties including diabetes, hepatology, endocrinology, diabetes self management educators (targeting Nurses), pain management and dermatology. The sessions are one hour in length with 45 minutes provided for consultations and a 15 minute didactic session for CMEs and CEUs.

Clinical participants report an increase in their work satisfaction, an opportunity to use their education immediately in their practice, a decrease in feelings of isolation, easy access to specialists and continuing education credit.

The benefits for patients in rural and underserved communities are a decrease in travel needs to the tertiary facility, decrease waiting times for specialty care and the ability to receive care from a trusted provider.

There are currently 9 SCAN-ECHO sites nationwide, and the Richmond VAMC is currently the leading SCAN-ECHO facility in the nation.