Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems (SVCHS) provides healthcare services to patients across rural Appalachia, where limited connectivity, workforce shortages, rising costs, and geographic barriers can complicate access to care. The organization uses technologies including eClinicalWorks and Luma to support patient communications, online self-scheduling, virtual check-in, digital forms, appointment reminders, and targeted outreach. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems COO Chad Brown to learn more about his background and how technology is helping the organization improve patient engagement, workforce efficiency, and access to care in rural communities.
Chad Brown’s Background
When asked about his background, Brown shared:
I graduated from Gardner-Webb University in 2005 with a BA in Spanish.
I served in the U.S. Army for eight years and served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.
I have worked for Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems, Inc. for 14+ years.
I started as Coordinator of our Migrant Health Program and have served as our COO for almost nine years.
Using Technology To Expand Rural Healthcare Access
When asked how Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems has used technology to expand access to care for underserved rural patients, Brown explained:
We use eClinicalWorks for our EHR. It provides a comprehensive patient portal.
We use Luma for patient communications, including automated appointment reminders, broadcast messaging, online self-scheduling, virtual check-in and digital forms completion, and targeted outreach messaging.
Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems recently participated in a pilot program of Luma’s new agentic AI outreach workflows that helped address appointment cancellations and reconnect patients with available care opportunities. This resulted in 4x canceled appointments rescheduled with agentic outreach as in the same time period in 2025.
Patient Communication And Engagement Challenges
When asked about the biggest communication and patient engagement challenges the organization faced, Brown said:
Cell service in some parts of our service area can be challenging.
This poses challenges with patients receiving timely appointment reminders and being able to take advantage of telehealth visits.
Self-Service Scheduling And Staff Workloads
When asked how giving patients more ability to manage their own appointments has affected no-show rates and employee workloads, Brown explained:
Our no-show rate was already quite low, 10% to 12%, and has remained consistent.
With tools such as automated reminders, waitlists, etc., it has allowed our staff to change their focus to more value-based appointments.
These visits allow us to provide a higher level of quality for our patients and lead to higher revenue generation for our organization.
Reducing Administrative Friction
When asked why reducing administrative friction is becoming increasingly important for rural health systems facing workforce shortages, Brown said:
As we face greater recruitment challenges for qualified health professionals, maximizing our patient schedules is paramount to maintaining optimal access for our patients.
In our Patient-Centered Medical Home, or PCMH, model, our patients expect us to be available to them when they need us.
There is always a delicate balance between patient satisfaction and provider and staff job satisfaction.
By reducing the administrative friction for our staff, we can hopefully strike a healthy balance for both sides of this important equation.
Meeting Patients In Their Preferred Communication Channels
When asked what the organization has learned about communicating with patients through the channels they prefer, Brown explained:
A large subsection of our patient population comes from the higher age bracket.
These patients are not always accepting of new technologies when it comes to their communication preferences.
With some targeted outreach efforts, including social media campaigns, we have been able to bridge some of these cultural gaps.
We have learned that taking the time up front to explain some of the new communications processes has led to greater levels of acceptance and participation with new technologies we have implemented.
Rural Health Transformation Funding And AI
When asked how the organization is thinking about deploying funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program to improve access to care, Brown said:
We are considering a variety of artificial intelligence-based tools to help us gain greater efficiency around patient scheduling and patient/provider communication.
Technology And Financial Sustainability
When asked what role technology can play in helping rural health systems remain independent and financially sustainable, Brown explained:
By increasing our workflow efficiency, we can focus our efforts on more value-based projects which keep important revenue streams intact for us.
Expanding Access To Rural Healthcare
When asked about additional opportunities to expand care access for the more than 60 million Americans living in rural communities, Brown said:
For our little corner of rural Appalachia, cost and wage inflation have created some significant challenges.
Payers have not kept up with this inflation in all cases, and our costs have far outpaced our reimbursements for these vital healthcare services.
These conditions make recruiting qualified healthcare professionals very challenging.
Without adequate providers, access is more challenging.
I believe that technology solutions, including many of the emerging AI technologies, are going to play a larger role in our overall efforts to provide high-quality care for our patients and our region.
