Meeting the needs of patients in rural areas in the U.S. is increasingly a challenge as medical facilities close and doctors are scarce across large geographical areas, leading to a crisis in access to care across large swathes of the country. In addition to increasing the risk of death and other adverse outcomes, the geographic paucity of healthcare facilities results in excessive costs for both patients and providers.

The Augmenting Rural Healthcare project makes use of Augmented Reality (AR) technology to improve outcomes of medical and surgical care as well as to produce cost savings through increased efficiency and quality.  The project facilitates early recognition of problems and more effective interventions at the first point of contact, leading to better care and cost reduction.

Building on the success and widespread adoption of telemedicine, Augmenting Rural Healthcare takes telemedicine one step further, adopting AR technology to link patients, care extenders like Paramedics, EMTs, and others with doctors in clinics and hospitals. The solution is relatively inexpensive and can be deployed in the field using existing cellular networks or Wi-Fi.

The Mira Prism AR headset connects frontline caregivers to doctors with additional or specialized expertise and makes it possible for those doctors to direct the provision of care. Doctors anywhere in the world using a computer on the receiving end of a call from an iPhone inserted in the headset can see what the headset wearer sees, and the person in the headset has their hands free to treat the patient. The doctor can annotate items in the caregiver’s line of sight to direct attention, can send other images and textual information to be viewed on the headset screen, and can provide verbal instructions.

The pilot for Augmenting Rural Healthcare consists of a year-long deployment of Mira Prism headsets in a variety of contexts in Coos Bay, Oregon, beginning in January 2020. Participating organizations include The Intermediate Care Clinic of the North Bend Medical Center; The Home Paramedic Program of Advance Health and the Bay Area Ambulance service; Bay Area Hospital; Avamere Rehabilitation Center; and The Coos Bay Fire Department. The Augmenting Rural Healthcare project is led by Dr. Ernest Manders and Karen Alexander, PhD.