Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GRANT ANNOUNCEMENT – December 18, 2007
Pickering Contact: BRIAN PERRY: 601-932-4647
UMC Contact: JIM ALBRITTON 601-502-4941

PICKERING: FCC TELEHEALTH GRANTS PROVIDE $5.8 MILLION TO TWO MISSISSIPPI PROJECTS
UMC, As One-Together Health funded to assist rural health care

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Chip Pickering announces nearly $6 million in telehealth funding seeking to increase access to health care for rural Mississippians.  “Telehealth can immediately connect patients around the state to top specialists, and assist health providers to consult their colleagues to provide the best medical care.  The FCC knows rural broadband deployment is an essential component of telehealth and these grants will assist facilities like the University of Mississippi Medical Center to better coordinate with other health providers in their states and regions,” Pickering said.

The Federal Communications Commission recently dedicated over $417 million for the construction of 69 statewide and regional broadband telehealth networks under the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP). This program seeks to increase access to acute, primary and preventive health care in rural America.  This program funds two Mississippi projects with $5.8 million.

University of Mississippi Medical Center – Project will upgrade an existing network and extend coverage to approximately 90 mostly rural facilities to provide telehealth, web-based patient education and links to the University's knowledge base.  Maximum support:

$3,918,319.

As One-Together for Health – A new statewide non-dedicated telehealth network will connect approximately 260 facilities through web-based conferencing tools running on commodity Internet and Internet2 connections.  This will improve patient care, and enable effective responses to disasters and other major incidents. Maximum support: $1,912,964.

Dr. Robert Galli, chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center said, “This grant will make it possible for the Medical Center to increase access to acute, primary and preventive care by reaching an additional 80-90 rural sites around the state through expanded telemedicine services.  The connections will be to physician offices, mental health facilities and health department clinics - wherever the resources here are needed.”

The Commission's RHCPP will support the connection of more than 6,000 public and non-profit health care providers nationwide to broadband telehealth networks.  Telehealth and telemedicine services provide patients in rural areas with access to critically needed medical specialists in a variety of practices, including cardiology, pediatrics, and radiology, in some instances without leaving their homes or communities.  Intensive care doctors and nurses can monitor critically ill patients around the clock and video conferencing allows specialists and mental health professionals to care for patients in different rural locations, often hundreds of miles away.

The networks will deliver services efficiently, reduce costs and travel time for consumers, decrease medical errors, and enable health care providers to share critical information.  Rapid and coordinated responses to public health emergencies, such as bioterrorism attacks, pandemics or disease-related outbreaks, will be expedited through coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other public health officials during public health emergencies.

Congressman Chip Pickering represents Mississippi’s Third Congressional District and serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  This is his sixth term.