Rural health care to go high speed
Federal grant to facilitate faster communication
Staff Writer
Rural and underserved hospitals in Tennessee and parts of Georgia expect to get greater access to health care with the help of a $2 million federal grant to Erlanger hospital. With a grant from the Federal Communications Commission, Erlanger will work with EPB to provide broadband Internet service to health care providers that don’t have those capabilities, said Roger Forgey, senior vice president of business development and regional operations for Erlanger. Fa st connections facilitate video conferencing and electronic transfer of digital X-rays and CT scans. That means critically ill patients in rural counties may be monitored by an Erlanger specialist who might physically visit a rural hospital once or twice a week, Mr. Forgey said. The grant is one of 69 awarded in the $417 million FCC pilot program, which aims to expand health care access through telehealth networks. At Copper Basin Medical Center in Copperhill, Tenn., a cardiologist visits once a week. Someone who needs cardiac care on any other day must travel to a larger city, said David Hyatt, interim CEO of the hospital. With video conferencing, that patient might be able to remain in his community while a local doctor discusses an EKG scan with a specialist miles away at a larger hospital, Mr. Hyatt said. “Being a rural hospital out in the middle of nowhere, (the grant will) enable us to provide services that we’ve never been able to provide before,” he said. Tennessee also received a $7.9 million FCC grant to expand the existing Tennessee Telehealth Network to 400 more facilities without broadband access. Ken Croom, CEO of Rhea Medical Center, said the everyday challenges for a rural hospital make it hard to prioritize investments in telehealth technologies that would improve care over time. “You don’t have enough specialists, you struggle to have enough doctors, then of course equipment and funding for those sorts of things — everything’s a challenge, unfortunately,” he said. Mr. Croom said administrators at his hospital have discussed the possibility of telemedicine links for a while, but the notion never had seemed feasible. “Now, with the grant, we can talk seriously about that idea,” he said. E-mail ebregel@timesfreepress.com NOTE: Also ran in the Southeast Tennessee edition. Staff Photo by John Rawlston Doresa Griffin fills out paperwork in the health information department of the Copper Basin Medical Center in Polk County, Tenn.
