Grants aim to improve rural telehealth capabilities
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) doled out more than $20 million in Rural Development Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grants. Of the 65 grants across 34 states, 31 grants totaling $8.6 million were healthcare related.
Leila Samy, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's (ONC) rural health IT coordinator, and Bill Menner, USDA state director in Iowa, penned a post on ONC's Health IT Buzz blog about the grants.
One grant for almost $500,000 goes to the University of Iowa’s eHealth Extension Network which will provide more than 70 rural healthcare facilities in 46 counties in the state with telehealth carts equipped with high-quality cameras, as well as videoconferencing and cloud-based image sharing software.
The grants are the latest in a series of USDA Rural Development investments in rural health and health IT infrastructure needs, including telehealth, health information exchange and EHR technology, according to the authors. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and USDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2011 to help link rural doctors and clinics to USDA Rural Development grants and loans.
The two agencies launched a joint pilot in 2013 that generated more than $38 million in financing to critical-access hospitals and small rural hospitals which has expanded to 13 states by October.
In announcing the grants, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted numerous benefits to the telehealth investments including less isolation for rural residents, decreased travel time for patients, lower morbidity and mortality rates, improved access to specialists and more.
For more on the grants, see: Fiscal Year 2014 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant recipients.
Read the complete blog post.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.