ArticleThe Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association2026
Bridging Gaps in Acute Care Access for Rural Veterans: The Reach and Impact of VA's Virtual Emergency and Urgent Care Programs.
Article in The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Clinician Experiences With Tele-Emergency Care: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the impact of the Veterans Health Administration's (VA) virtual acute care programs-tele-emergency care (TEC) and virtual care visits (VCV)-on short-term utilization, mortality, and costs among rural veterans.
methodsThis retrospective study used national call center data (January 2022-September 2024) linked with VA administrative and community care records. Completed TEC or VCV encounters were grouped by triage acuity: acute (recommended follow-up within 8 h; n = 61,408) and non-acute (>8 h; n = 66,319), and compared with matched controls using propensity-score methods. Primary outcomes were emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admissions, and 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included total, inpatient, outpatient, pharmacy, and community care costs.
findingsAmong 631,437 nurse triage calls from rural veterans, virtual care was associated with significantly lower ED visits (acute: -11.87 percentage points (pp), 95% CI -12.47 to -11.26; non-acute: -3.62 pp, 95% CI -4.02 to -3.22) and hospitalizations (acute: -0.55 pp; non-acute: -0.15 pp). Thirty-day mortality did not differ significantly in either group. Total costs were modestly higher in both groups that received virtual care (acute: +$549; non-acute: +$386), driven by outpatient spending and partially offset by lower community care costs.
conclusionsVirtual acute care substantially reduced short-term emergency and hospital utilization among rural veterans across both acuity groups but was associated with higher total 30-day costs. These findings highlight the potential of embedded virtual programs to improve access for rural veterans, while underscoring the need to evaluate their long-term value and return on investment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.