From Rotary Phones to Virtual Hubs: How Sanford Health Expands Rural Access

Dr. David Newman, Chief Medical Officer of Virtual Care at Sanford Health, is leading efforts to make digital health a lifeline for rural communities. In this episode, he shares how Sanford is training the next generation of physicians in virtual care, supervising behavioral health trainees remotely, and meeting patients where they are — whether that’s at a hub clinic, in a group home, or even on a ranch with a rotary phone. 

Sanford Health is the largest rural health system in the United States, serving communities across the Upper Midwest. Dr. David Newman has been both a practicing endocrinologist and an early adopter of virtual care, and now, as Chief Medical Officer of Virtual Care, he’s helping Sanford rethink what access looks like in rural America. 

In this conversation, Dr. Newman describes how Sanford is embedding virtual care into medical training, from webside manner to using augmented reality in surgical education. He also explains how remote supervision of behavioral health trainees is breaking through bottlenecks that once kept rural clinics from hiring and retaining desperately needed mental health providers. Together, these approaches are not only expanding capacity but also helping to address the clinician shortage that hits rural areas hardest. 

Dr. Newman brings the conversation down to earth with real examples: a rancher who receives his diabetes care by rotary phone, a small town where patients wanted subspecialty visits close to home, and a pediatric group home now supported by virtual care. He also highlights Sanford’s hub-and-spoke model and how the system leverages its purchasing power to extend technology, infrastructure, and EHR access to smaller hospitals and clinics. Ultimately, the work is about removing barriers and making healthcare more frictionless, giving patients in even the most remote corners of the Midwest timely, high-quality care. 

Dave Newman, MD, is chief medical officer for virtual care at Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the country. A practicing endocrinologist and informaticist based in Fargo, ND, Dr. Newman is passionate about health care disparities, especially zip code-based disparities. 

An influential voice in the industry, Dr. Newman is regularly invited to contribute his clinical expertise, unique perspective and forward-looking insights on innovation in rural health care delivery. He has presented at high-profile national industry events including the Reuters Digital Health Summit, HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum and the flagship ATA Nexus Conference among others. In 2023, Dr. Newman was featured in a STAT News documentary for his commitment to using technology to offset major obstacles to health care across the Dakotas, bringing care closer to home for his patients who live hundreds of miles away. In 2024, Newsweek published a feature story with Dr. Newman, which takes a closer look at how the new Sanford Virtual Care Center will transform care delivery in rural America. 

He received a B.S. from Drake University, an M.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Hennepin County Medical Center and completed an Endocrinology Fellowship with the University of Minnesota. 

In his spare time, Dr. Newman volunteers as a soccer coach for a Club and Olympic Development Program and is an amateur DJ. He and his wife, Tracie Newman, MD, MPH, FAAP, have three children and reside in Fargo, ND.