Sentara expands innovative school-based telehealth clinics to Newport News and Portsmouth

Sentara Health is extending its innovative school-based telehealth clinics to the Newport News and Portsmouth school systems. These clinics deliver acute primary care services directly to students and faculty while they are in their own schools.

The expansion is part of Sentara’s commitment to bring these services to more than 25 Title I schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia in the next two years. Title I is a federal education program that supports low-income students throughout the nation.

Sentara’s collaborative partnership with Virginia school systems was launched in Hampton and Harrisonburg in October 2024. The partnership establishes in-school health clinics comprised of an on-site licensed practical nurse paired virtually with Sentara’s providers (such as a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or medical doctor).

This hybrid care team can conduct remote physical exams – looking in the student’s throat, listening to their heart, examining their eyes and ears – and make clinical decisions in real-time.

A Sentara provider consults with a patient as part of a school-based telehealth clinic.

Partnering with schools to provide the right care

"The school-based telehealth program is a wonderful opportunity where we as healthcare providers can partner with school systems to give the right care at the right time to those who need it,” said Dr. LaTonya Russell, medical director for the Sentara Community Care School-Based Telehealth Program.

“These clinics are an extension of Sentara's mission to improve health every day and to bring care to people. The clinics make health care more accessible, bringing it into the school and right into the neighborhood. We know that when children are ill and miss school, the impact on their academics can be enormous. So having them be seen, diagnosed, and treated in a timely and efficient manner will make a world of difference on absenteeism and learning time missed.”

An innovative healthcare model

These school telehealth clinics are implemented by Sentara Community Care, Sentara’s innovative healthcare model that is designed to increase access to holistic care, address social drivers of health, and improve health outcomes.

The goal is to reduce traditional barriers to health and wellness by maximizing convenience and providing consistent, embedded medical and wrap-around services in neighborhoods that historically lacked access, have known health disparities, and statistically experience worse health outcomes.

“Newport News Public Schools is grateful for the opportunity to form a partnership with Sentara that brings quality healthcare to students at their own schools,” said Dr. Michele Mitchell, superintendent of Newport News Public Schools.

“Telehealth clinicians working with our school nurses on site during school hours will help families obtain medical attention faster, reduce student absences and help to maintain a strong learning environment for all of our students.”

The clinics embody Sentara’s commitment to improving health every day by finding new ways to make it easier for people to access quality, timely health care.

In addition to helping reduce student absenteeism, these clinics will also reduce the time parents spend away from work. In addition, the clinics can identify whether students have a primary care provider for well-child visits and whether they’ve had the necessary immunizations. Doing so will support not just the health of students, but also their education.

Serving schools in Hampton, Harrisonburg, Newport News, and Portsmouth

Sentara’s school telehealth clinics are now delivering care to students at 10 schools in Virginia:

• Hampton: Andrew PK-8 and Phenix PK-8
• Harrisonburg: Elon Rhodes Early Learning Center, Skyline Middle School, and Smithland Elementary
• Newport News, Newsome Park Elementary School and Stoney Run Elementary School
• Portsmouth: Cradock Elementary School, Douglass Park Elementary, and IC Norcom High School.

The clinics are open to students and faculty during regular school hours, Monday through Friday.

The school clinics are powered through a partnership with TytoCare, a virtual healthcare company that enables leading health plans and providers to deliver high-quality remote health care.