Matt Lyon

Matt Lyon is a professor of emergency medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, where he directs the MCG Center for Digital Health and leads telehealth initiatives including the Wellstar Digital Care Network for rural Georgia. He also serves as Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and has helped expand virtual care, Tele-ED, remote patient monitoring, and digital health education across MCG and Wellstar MCG Health.

Telehealth Specialists Are Helping Rural Hospitals Reverse Default Transfers

Wellstar Health System and its rural partners argue that the rural care crisis cannot be solved by transferring more patients to urban hospitals or acquiring local facilities. They describe a Digital Care Network that gives rural emergency, inpatient, and ICU teams 24/7 specialist support by telemedicine, allowing many patients who would previously have been transferred to stay in their local hospital. Matt Lyon of Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia said the mature model has reversed the expected pattern, with about 70% of comparable patients kept locally rather than sent out.

The Aspen InstituteJun 24, 202622 min read