A novel, cost-effective approach to extend the reach of the healthcare system into rural communities, providing remote services and increasing access to care.
Touch works with Tanzanian hospitals to expand their footprint of care to rural communities through telehealth consultations. Millions of patients face challenges seeking necessary care because of long distances. This is especially burdensome for patients with chronic disease. Touch has developed a teleconsultation model which provides a physician-led visit, facilitated by a health-post worker or community entrepreneur, to bring health services to people who need it most.
SimuConsult was developed in partnership with hospitals who sought to increase patient reach. Hospital leaders knew they were losing patients to follow-up (or not seeing them at all) because of the cost and distance barriers. SimuConsult brings care to the community level.
Over 70% of Tanzania’s population lives in rural areas, making geography a major barrier to accessing health services. Patients often delay care-seeking, hoping to avoid the expense and opportunity cost of traveling long distances. Or they decide not to return for a follow-up visit or don’t seek care at all. These decision can have catastrophic consequences.
At Touch, we seek to remove barriers to care by innovating new ways to bring care to the patients in their home communities.
Initially developed in partnership with the Sengerema District Hospital, the SimuConsult model was added as a service to existing health outreach and education programming. Patients were given the option of a telehealth visit with a doctor. Over 30% of patients elected the SimuConsult option and, of those, 60% were discharged from care at the community level – avoiding costly and time-consuming travel, and receiving medical guidance and basic commodities locally.Thanks to support from the Vitol Foundation, Touch is currently expanding SimuConsult to 8 additional hospitals in northern Tanzania. The pilot program showed that there is a vast unmet need and demand for teleconsultation services. Touch’s expanding SimuConsult programming is expected to reach 23,000 patients by 2025.
Initially developed in partnership with the Sengerema District Hospital, the SimuConsult model was added as a service to existing health outreach and education programming. Patients were given the option of a telehealth visit with a doctor. Over 30% of patients elected the SimuConsult option and, of those, 60% were discharged from care at the community level – avoiding costly and time-consuming travel, and receiving medical guidance and basic commodities locally.
Thanks to support from the Vitol Foundation, Touch is currently expanding SimuConsult to 8 additional hospitals in northern Tanzania. The pilot program showed that there is a vast unmet need and demand for teleconsultation services. Touch’s expanding SimuConsult programming is expected to reach 23,000 patients by 2025.