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Going digital: from face time to FaceTime

By Alex Cummings

Rural health care has joined the digital revolution. What began as a way to connect high-risk pregnant women with doctors outside of the Rockbridge area — and beyond the mountains — is catching on.  It’s called telemedicine, and a grant to the University of Virginia helped get it started a few years ago. The program has spread, says Deborah Allen with the Central Shenandoah Health District. Now Allen’s office offers a broad range of referral services. Many of them are covered by health insurers or Medicaid. Local mental health professionals are taking advantage of telemedicine, too.