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VHA Office of Rural Health

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ORH Featured News Item

National Telehospitalist Program Expands Access to Quality Hospital Medicine Care for Rural Veterans

VHA National TeleHospital Medicine (Tele-HM) Enterprise-Wide Initiative

Read the full University of Iowa feature on the Tele-HM Program. »

The VHA Office of Rural Health (ORH) is proud to share that its National TeleHospital Medicine (Tele-HM) Enterprise-Wide Initiative was recently featured by the University of Iowa Department of Internal Medicine, highlighting the program's growing impact on rural Veterans and the renewal of its funding through fiscal year 2029.

What began as a 10-bed pilot at a rural VA hospital in Wisconsin in 2019 has expanded into a national enterprise-wide initiative serving 15 sites across 11 states and covering up to 400 beds daily. With funding secured through fiscal year 2029, Tele-HM continues to deliver 24/7 hospital medicine expertise to rural and underserved VA facilities that would otherwise struggle to sustain around-the-clock in-person physician coverage.

Using video and audio technology, telehospitalists remotely evaluate patients with full access to medical records, vital signs, lab results, and imaging — helping rural VA hospitals recruit and retain clinicians, reduce provider burnout, and keep Veterans connected to care within the VA health system. The program has also expanded beyond inpatient settings to serve VA Community Living Centers, hospice patients, and Veterans in residential treatment programs.

Jeydith Gutierrez, MD, MPH, Director of the VHA National Telehospitalist Program.

Jeydith Gutierrez, MD
Director, TeleHM Program

The program is led by Jeydith Gutierrez, MD, MPH, who serves as Clinical Associate Professor in Hospital Medicine at the University of Iowa and has directed Tele-HM since its launch. As a Staff Physician at the Iowa City VA Medical Center, she also sees rural Veteran patients firsthand — experience that directly informs her leadership of the national program.Her dual role bridges academic medicine and VA health care, bringing both clinical expertise and research-informed leadership to the program's growth.

Peter Kaboli, MD, ORH Executive Director, commented on the impact of this program on rural hospitals. “If the National Telehospitalist program didn’t exist, several services at these rural hospitals may have had to close permanently or temporarily. Providing these services not only kept the units open but saved the VA other costs of care and ensured access to high-quality hospital medicine care for rural Veterans.”  

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