U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe and U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that the New England Telehealth Consortium, based in Bangor, will receive $24,689,016 in grant funding from the Federal Communications Commission. The funding is part of the FCC’s Rural Health Care Pilot Program.
The two-year funding will be used to establish a pilot program to deliver remote trauma consultation and expansive telemedicine from urban hospitals to approximately 500 primarily rural health care facilities in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
“This telemedicine grant funding will greatly benefit Maine’s rural hospitals and their patients by enabling doctors to better consult with doctors from urban hospitals throughout New England, allowing for improved care,” noted Senators Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. “We are excited to announce this funding because it will help provide patients in some of Maine’s, and New England’s, most rural areas with access to much-needed medical specialists.”
The FCC’s Rural Health Care Pilot Program will support the connection of more than 6,000 public and non-profit health care providers nationwide to broadband telehealth networks. The health care facilities participating in the Pilot Program include: hospitals, clinics, universities and research centers, behavioral health sites, correctional facility clinics, and community health centers.
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