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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2883
igaa057.2883
Abstracts
Session 7215 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Scaling Geriatric and Telemedicine Care for Older Adults in Rural Areas Through Clinical Strategies and Training
Hung William Chair Powers Becky Co-Chair Dang Stuti Discussant 2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”795 795
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Telemedicine, the use of electronic information and communication technologies to deliver care, has grown substantially over the past few years, potentially benefiting older adults who have difficulty accessing and traveling to care locations. Given that providers and interprofessional staff with training in geriatric medicine often practice in urban rather than rural areas, older adults’ access to quality geriatric care is limited. Prior experiences with telemedicine adoption for geriatric team consultation, though limited in scope, were well accepted by older adults and demonstrated benefits such as identifying and meeting care needs for older adults. Bringing geriatric team care to large regions across the country requires further consideration of population needs, local contexts and training and enhancement of an interprofessional workforce to deliver geriatric care through telemedicine. The Veteran healthcare system has been a pioneer in telemedicine care and considers the use of telemedicine necessary for all providers in its system. This symposium aims to discuss approaches to identify and target older adults who may benefit from geriatric consultation, how care delivery is scaled through identifying common approaches and local adaptations, what the important elements are for providers and teams to deliver care effectively for the older adult population, especially those with multiple complex chronic conditions and functional limitations, and considerations for training the next generation of providers to provide care for older adults with complex conditions, particularly in rural areas with limited access.