The FCC launched its Rural Health Care Pilot Program Monday with ...
The FCC launched its Rural Health Care Pilot Program Monday with $417 million earmarked for building broadband telehealth networks in 42 states and three U.S. territories. The universal-service money will subsidize up to 85 percent of the costs of…
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designing, engineering and building regional and state networks, the FCC said. The networks will connect to the public Internet or one of two dedicated Internet backbones, Internet2 or National LambdaRail. The program, set up last year, “exceeded even our own high expectations,” the Commission said Monday in an order. The pilot attracted 81 applications, 69 of them meeting all criteria, the order said. The networks will support more than 6,000 rural health care facilities, the commission said. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin sees the program as “the basic building blocks of a digitally connected health system -- regional and state-wide broadband networks, all connected to a national backbone,” he said. The program aims to connect rural clinics, hospitals, universities and other facilities so rurally based care providers can reach medical specialists elsewhere. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps will do “everything I can” to make sure the pilot becomes s permanent program, he said. The order includes safeguards to make sure funds go for their intended purpose, commissioners said. The pilot, announced in September 2006, is meant make improved use of the rural health care portion of the Universal Service Fund, underused since the 1996 Telecom Act created it.