Health care providers across Pennsylvania will soon have alternative options when determining how to configure their hospitals after the Pennsylvania Department of Health released guidelines on three new “innovative care models” at a news briefing Wednesday in Harrisburg.

Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter described the three new potential options for hospitals — micro-hospitals, tele-emergency departments and outpatient emergency departments — and outlined what defines the assistance they can provide to a health system.

“The primary purpose of these innovative delivery models is to provide options, to help preserve and increase access to safe, high quality care in areas that would otherwise be medically underserved,” she said. “These innovative delivery models will give many rural hospitals flexibility to address historical challenges, so that they can maintain access to care in their local communities.”

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