Most individuals can access the health care we want inside a brief drive, train or bus ride. Nonetheless, many Americans (about 1 in 5) live in rural areas of the country where access to a health care provider, pharmacy and even an emergency department in a hospital could take hours—even a full day’s drive. 

Accessing routine and emergency health care and a pharmacy is very vital for people living with chronic conditions like type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). 

Regular check-ins with a physician are crucial for correct management. Emergency medical help could also be life or death within the case of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or a diabetic coma from a high or low blood sugar level. 

In fact, medications also should be frequently filled, so when a pharmacy is amazingly far-off, it could actually be inconvenient and unaccessible. 

Rural health care is becoming tougher to access 

Over the past decade greater than 100 rural hospitals have closed, and greater than 600 (nearly 30% of all rural hospitals in your complete country) are liable to closing within the near future. 

Rural hospitals are liable to closing because they receive inadequate reimbursement for the services that they supply (mostly resulting from low Medicaid reimbursement rates and provider fees). Many cannot proceed to cover the rising costs of healthcare, expensive medications and labor. 

Staffing shortages have also hit rural hospitals extremely hard, and low patient volume makes keeping doors open harder to attain. The closure of rural hospitals is a dire threat to healthcare access for tens of millions of Americans, a few of whom receive all of their routine care from hospitals when local health clinics are sparse in some parts of the country. 

Sadly, many pharmacies affiliated with these smaller, rural hospitals will even close when the hospitals shut their doors, cutting off prescription medication access too. 

This leaves a very important query for many individuals living with diabetes. What do you do when your local, rural hospital has closed and you can not receive the care you wish? 

get healthcare in rural America 

It isn’t realistic to expect people living in rural areas to drive hours to receive routine care. There are alternatives available that could make managing your T1D or T2D easier. 

If you happen to live in a rural area and are having trouble accessing the diabetes care you deserve, try these strategies:

Non-traditional models of care 

Each routine and emergency medical care do not only have to happen in a typical doctor’s office or hospital setting. See in case your community has facilities corresponding to freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs), community paramedicine facilities (which are often staffed by emergency medical technicians EMTs) or patient-centered medical homes (PCMH).

Some smaller clinics may offer team-based care which regularly utilizes community medical experts (CHWs), patient navigators (PNs) and promotoras. These practitioners can often meet the needs of individuals with diabetes, providing support and navigation through the health care system when a physician will not be available or on-site. 

Smaller clinics inside larger systems or networks 

Sometimes smaller clinics can have a physical space in a rural area even in the event that they’re connected to a bigger health network. This model makes it cheaper and sustainable to run a clinic in a smaller community without the specter of closure. 

Kaiser Permanente, The Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Ascension Health, SCL (Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth)/Intermountain Healthcare are some examples of enormous networks of providers which have smaller, rural-based clinic presence. 

Telehealth and patient portals

Benefiting from technology through using telehealth and patient portals is an excellent option if you might have access to a telephone or the web, and need to connect together with your provider but they’re far-off. 

Telehealth may be utilized in lots of cases, including provider check-ins, chronic disease education, health interventions, monitoring of latest or existing conditions and even distant referrals to specialists or admissions to a hospital. 

Repeatedly a telehealth appointment can have the identical copayment as an in-person visit and plenty of medical health insurance providers cover the sort of care, especially for the reason that pandemic. 

Patient portals are perfect for quick questions, refill reminders for prescription medications and asking your doctor easy questions that wouldn’t merit an appointment. Many providers have their very own patient portal you can access from either a web site or an app in your phone. Ask your doctor in the event that they offer a patient portal. 

Mail-order prescriptions 

Many pharmacies and insurances now offer a mail-order option where they are going to ship your prescription medications right to your front door. That is an excellent option when you live in a rural area with no nearby pharmacy. 

Higher yet, mail-order pharmacies will often charge the copayment for 2 months’ price of supplies while sending out three months’ price. 

This selection is great for insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) supplies in addition to insulin, test strips and other diabetes medications. 

Self-education and empowerment 

Diabetes is basically self-managed outside of the clinic or hospital, whether or not you reside in a rural area.

Individuals with T1D and T2D can empower themselves by making smart decisions about their health on a day-to-day basis to diminish the likelihood that they’ll need emergency care, especially when living in rural areas removed from their doctors.

In between doctor visits, people can use CGM data to make adjustments to insulin therapy, while utilizing patient portals to crosscheck any major changes with their physician. 

Utilizing CGM data to drive insulin and other medication decisions may also assist you to make informed selections in your food regimen and every day physical activity can keep you healthy between doctors’ visits. 

If you happen to’re able to make positive changes, talk together with your doctor about organising or modifying your diabetes self-management plan—they will monitor your progress and recommend changes remotely along the way in which.

If you might have T1D or T2D and need to attach with people from all around the world, join us! We’re here to supply support, resources, and community—irrespective of where you reside.

Editor’s Note: Educational content about health equity and access is made possible with support from Abbott, makers of the Freestyle Libre 3 system, a founding partner of Beyond Type 2. Editorial control rests solely with Beyond Type 2.