Article: AI-Assisted Point-of-Care Ultrasound Networks—Considerations for Rural Health Care Delivery

Authors: Amanda Chang MD, Jordan B. Strom MD, MSc, Kan Liu, MD, PhD

Journal: JAMA Cardiol. Published online April 30, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2025.0829

Excerpt:
More than 20% of the US population lives in a rural area. Rural communities have higher cardiovascular (CV) disease burden and mortality than urban areas, attributable to multiple underlying causes, including social determinants of health and other sociodemographic barriers to care. Access to specialist care and availability of diagnostic technologies present important and potentially addressable contributors to rural-urban disparities in CV health. Despite an increasing number of sites capable of performing CV imaging, advanced imaging technologies remain predominantly concentrated in urban academic centers. Moreover, skilled staff to acquire and interpret CV imaging studies are increasingly in short supply, further aggravating existing staffing shortages in rural communities. Therefore, these shortages may have an outsized influence on rural health, potentially limiting rural health care professionals’ capacity to effectively diagnose and triage patients with suspected CV symptoms.

Link to journal online: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2832994