The largest grant, $24.6 million over three years, went to The New England Telehealth Consortium that comprises 31 provider organizations with 555 total sites in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The grants are part of the FCC’s Rural Health Care Pilot Program to create or expand telemedicine projects that also will include other initiatives, such as electronic health records and regional health information organizations. The projects will use broadband public Internet services or the advanced Internet2 or National LambdaRail backbones for connectivity.
The FCC program is a significant expansion of the federal government’s Universal Service Fund that subsidizes telecommunications services to rural health care providers. An FCC order in September 2006 explained the program and guidelines for applicants, and more than 80 network initiatives applied.
Now, the 69 grant awardees will receive funds for up to 85% of the cost of deploying a dedicated broadband network and up to 85% of the broadband connectivity costs. One goal of the program is to have grant awardees coordinate use of their networks with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct biosurveillance activities.
Success of the pilot programs will be measured before a decision is made on whether to expand the subsidies to additional applicants. More information is available at fcc.gov.
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