Telehealth poised to expand in scope, benefit from federal initiative
Published on Monday, August 11, 2025
By: Danny Barrett Jr., dlbarrett@umc.edu
Photos By: Joe Ellis/UMMC Communications
Telemedicine is broadening its scope at the University of Mississippi Medical Center to take advantage of new technology in patient care.
The Center for Telehealth – established in 2003 with then-new T1 landline wiring – has since grown in scope since then along with the connection speeds that power its ability to assist patients. Advancements in technology prompted changes in the center’s name – now the Center for Telehealth and Emerging Technologies – as well as its location and goals to incorporate virtual tools to achieve comprehensive patient care.
“While telehealth remains a foundational element of our work, we have increasingly embraced emerging technologies such as AI-powered clinical tools and digital health platforms,” said Dr. Saurabh Chandra, chief telehealth officer. The center is changing locations in Ridgeland, from the C Spire corporate building on Highland Colony Parkway to 775 Woodlands Pkwy., Suite 100, also in Ridgeland.
“The expanded focus also supports the pursuit of grant funding for AI initiatives, particularly those that intersect with telehealth to improve clinical decision-making, patient engagement and provider wellbeing and reduce health disparities,” Chandra said.
Last Wednesday, successes and challenges for the program were the topic of conversation among Chandra and telehealth staff and FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty, who toured the Mississippi Center for Emergency Services with a group of UMMC officials and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker.
“We are at a crossroad here in Central Mississippi for broadband access,” Wicker said. “A huge cable corridor from Atlanta over to Texas and then from Chicago on down – it just puts us in a great spot.”
Improving broadband connectivity in rural areas was the focus of a presentation by telehealth staff and a press conference inside MCES.
“UMMC is proof that when Mississippi talent meets modern technology, there’s no limit to what can be achieved,” Trusty said. “Nowhere is that more clear than at the Center for Telehealth. UMMC’s telehealth program has become a national model, showing how broadband can deliver quality, life-saving care straight into people’s homes, whether they’re down the road or five counties over. For many Mississippians, this kind of access isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline.”
Trusty, a former staffer for Wicker, touted the federal agency’s Build America Agenda, which aims to foster the expansion of broadband access and enable more fiber networks to replace outdated copper wiring still in use. She said 12 new broadband projects are planned in the state, many in sparsely populated areas.
“That’s more homes online, more small businesses connected and more doctors able to serve patients across distances that once seemed insurmountable,” she said.
UMMC’s telehealth center was recognized in 2017 as one of only two federally designated Centers of Excellence in Telehealth by the federal Health Resources Services Administration. Renewed funding in 2024 under a Center for Excellence grant has helped the center reach more students in its school-based telehealth program. Currently, the program is serving more than 79,000 students in 205 schools in 32 districts across Mississippi.
Since 2022, a maternal telehealth initiative within the center has connected 117 eligible mothers with a registered nurse coordinator who has provided education, health monitoring and emotional support throughout pregnancy into the postpartum period. A total of 61 babies have been born to mothers who’ve participated in the initiative.
The center had the highest number of abstract submissions at the 2024 and 2025 SEARCH (short for the Society for Education and the Advancement of Research in Connected Health) conferences and is a frequent contributor at the Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law policy summits.