MUSC One of First National Telehealth Centers of Excellence

CONTACT: Heather Woolwine
843-792-7669
woolwinh@musc.edu

October 3, 2017

CHARLESTON, SC – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The award marks MUSC as one of only two national Telehealth Centers of Excellence in the United States. As a national telehealth coordinating center, MUSC will continue to provide a range of telehealth services at more than 200 locations statewide, leading and modeling the way for health care delivery through advanced technology.

“This is a phenomenal achievement,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO and vice president for Health Affairs. “This grant acknowledges the premier position that our telehealth team has established not only in South Carolina, but across the nation. It serves as another clear affirmation of our institution’s commitment to fulfill our vision – to lead health innovation for the lives we touch.”

As a founding member of the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance (SCTA), a collaboration to empower care providers and patients across the state to effectively use telehealth, MUSC is uniquely qualified to lead these efforts. The institution has a long history of executing its three-part mission in a state with largely rural areas and high rates of chronic disease among a particularly impoverished and medically underserved population. Familiar with the patient care, research, and educational leadership talent within the institution, the South Carolina legislature has generously supported expanding telehealth across the state through the SCTA, acknowledging MUSC’s proven track record of achieving astronomical growth in telehealth services while keeping cost effectiveness at the forefront.

“This is one of the first of its kind HRSA grants with only two awarded in the entire country,” said Shawn Valenta, MUSC Center of Telehealth director. "We are very grateful for the efforts of Dr. Dee Ford and Dr. Kathryn Cristaldi, who led a robust team to pull together a phenomenal application. As co-principal investigators on the award, Dr. Ford and Dr. Cristaldi will leverage the amazing work of our Center for Telehealth’s programs and MUSC’s scientific resources to focus on recommendations and solutions to universally complex telehealth barriers such as systems-level telehealth integration, provider engagement, open access networks, and rigorous financial evaluations."

Through the grant, MUSC will continue to:

Look beyond using telehealth to merely replicate care over distance.
Achieve efficiencies within health care delivery and assess the impact on the patient, the referring site, the consulting provider, the payer, and the health care system.
Balance the need for population-level outreach while concurrently using a targeted approach to health system integration.
Foster a culture of collaboration and understand the importance of interdisciplinary efforts.
Strive for deep understanding of barriers and facilitators for the diffusion of innovations in rural health care settings and team experience in overcoming these barriers.
Enhance alignment of historically competing health systems for the benefit of patients.
Reinforce the commitment and expertise necessary to use evidence-based, data-driven approaches to identify needs for telehealth services, and to monitor and improve existing programs
Work with legislators and policy-makers to develop and maintain bipartisan support for telehealth initiatives.
Demonstrate robust financial accountability and efficient use of resources for telehealth.
Rely on proven ability to recognize and facilitate the development and testing of new ideas for improving rural health and the care of underserved populations.
Build upon high levels of provider acceptance through innovative education and training initiatives.

“The South Carolina legislature has placed a lot of trust in MUSC and the other members of the South Carolina Telehealth Alliance to use telehealth to improve access to quality health care in our state,” said South Carolina Representative G. Murrell Smith. “This achievement is a testament to the leadership, collaboration and hard work that’s been taking place these last few years. We are proud of what MUSC and SCTA have been able to accomplish thus far, and we take comfort knowing that no matter what happens with the health care debate at the national level, we have an effective and cost-conscious model that we hope one day will enable every citizen of our state to access the high-quality care they deserve.”

Smith’s colleague at the statehouse, South Carolina Senator Thomas C. Alexander, echoed the praise for MUSC and SCTA. “Innovation in health care is a critical component of how we offer forward-thinking solutions to today's challenges,” he said. “The South Carolina legislature recognized the potential for MUSC and SCTA to carve the path to better health across this state by employing advanced technology and strategic thinking. This grant gives MUSC the opportunity to share that knowledge and success on a national level, and we are proud to support this extended impact.”

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, with a mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates over 3,100 students in six colleges and trains 950+ residents and fellows across its health system. MUSC leads the state in federal and National Institutes of Health and research funding. For information on our academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. In 2024, for the 10th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC has a total enterprise annual operating budget of $7.1 billion. The 31,000 MUSC members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, contract employees, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, and patient care.