Seeing Through Barriers to Rural Maternity Care
Teleultrasound enables hospitals and health systems to expand access to high-quality prenatal and obstetrical care in underserved areas.
Maternal age is increasing in the U.S., and high-risk pregnancies are becoming more common. In addition, maternal mortality rates climb with age. Access to high-quality prenatal and obstetrical care is vital for pregnant patients to ensure the best possible outcomes. However, access to those services is limited in many areas: 34.6% of all counties nationwide qualify as “maternity care deserts,” meaning they lack birthing facilities and obstetrical clinicians, according to the March of Dimes.
To expand access to prenatal care for pregnant patients in rural and underserved areas, some healthcare providers have turned to remote teleultrasound (TUS). The technology allows trained sonographers at remote care sites to perform ultrasounds under the in-person or virtual supervision of a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist and transmit the images to an offsite MFM or other obstetrical clinician for analysis. With strong Wi-Fi and reliable equipment on both sides, TUS proves as effective as in-person ultrasound. This virtual care technique extends access to regular and as-needed scans, supporting early diagnosis and treatment of medical issues, better patient outcomes and decreased utilization of high-intensity, specialty post-partum care.
The report includes a real-world example of how an AHA member hospital has utilized TUS to connect patients in remote areas with its fetal cardiology team.
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Case Study: Children's Hospital Colorado
How Children’s Hospital Colorado expanded access to fetal cardiologists
While its physical locations are all in Colorado, Aurora-based Children’s Hospital Colorado has a service area extending to Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The hospital’s Colorado Fetal Care Center specializes in high-risk pregnancies, and its ability to care for patients hinges on its maternal fetal telemedicine program.
Of the roughly 1,700 ultrasound diagnostic tests the fetal cardiology team performs per year, most occur on an outpatient basis, and the majority of those are conducted via TUS. With TUS services offered through local physicians, Children’s connects pregnant patients in remote and rural areas with fetal cardiology specialists in Aurora. This facilitates early diagnosis and allows care teams ample time to prepare for high-risk deliveries and life-saving interventions.