Sanford Health is launching virtual care services to 27 Good Samaritan skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in South Dakota, with plans to expand to the entire Good Samaritan portfolio.

The service, My Care Line, is part of the integrated health system’s $350 million virtual care initiative. Through the initiative, launched in 2021, Sanford Health aims to transform health care for people in rural and underserved areas.

Half of the communities represented in the My Care Line launch have populations of 1,000 people or fewer, and many are located far from the closest hospital, according to an Oct. 8 post on the Sanford website. 

My Care Line will connect Good Samaritan employees in these communities with Sanford Health registered nurses and advanced practice providers.

Good Samaritan is the largest nonprofit provider of nursing home care in the United States. The organization is part of Sanford Health, a nonprofit health system headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Good Samaritan serves 10,000 seniors across the upper Midwest, 70% of whom reside in rural areas, offering rehabilitation and skilled nursing centers as well as other types of senior living, and home health and hospice agencies.

“With My Care Line, we’re not just giving residents a way to connect with clinicians from home — we’re giving our nurses and directors of nursing peace of mind and a powerful extension of their team,” said Nate Schema, president and CEO of Good Samaritan. “They now have real-time clinical support at their fingertips, which means fewer middle-of-the-night calls and more resources to deliver timely, expert care. This is about supporting our teams, keeping care local and driving better outcomes for those we serve.”

My Care Line will be available for the overnight shift Monday through Friday and 24 hours on weekends. The registered nurses and advanced practice providers on call will help triage fall assessments, changes in condition, medication administration and more.

The service may be provided via phone or a video visit. In some locations, TytoCare Devices, which have tools for completing virtual exams, may be used for a video visit.

“Today marks an exciting milestone for our virtual care initiative as we bring care closer to seniors and families at our Good Samaritan long-term care locations across the state of South Dakota,” said Susan Berry, vice president for virtual care operations at Sanford Health. “By harnessing our expertise and resources as an integrated health system, this program strengthens our capacity to quickly assess and respond to residents’ needs – empowering our caregivers to deliver the highest quality care when and where it’s needed the most — in their own homes.”

The announcement from Sanford comes just a week after the federal government shutdown raised concerns over the expiration of telehealth waivers, which lapsed on Oct. 1.

“Some providers and beneficiaries may need to make temporary adjustments if they are impacted by the expirations of telehealth waivers,” said Clif Porter, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). However, he emphasized that nursing home providers generally should be able to “maintain continuity of care.”

For years, Good Samaritan’s leaders have been outspoken about the need for greater virtual care to meet the needs of older adults residing in rural areas, and the promise that technology holds.

“Imagine a time where you can bring that cutting-edge specialty care, oncology care … into a rural skilled nursing facility, and bring it to the bedside and connect to a specialist in Sioux Falls or Fargo or another part of our system,” Schema told SNN in 2023.