Rural and urban health care providers throughout the state can now partner up to apply for funding that will help lower the cost of broadband.
Broadband is needed to share electronic medical records and digital images, among other health care needs.
The Federal Communications Commission’s new Healthcare Connect Fund, through its Rural Health Care Program, will provide $400 million in annual funding to health care providers nationwide to spur the development of broadband networks and to help cut costs of existing ones.
S.C. health care providers can apply this July to secure a portion of the funding. The funds could provide up to a 65% discount on broadband services.
Access to broadband is increasingly important in today’s health care sector, experts say.
Of those providing either Medicaid or Medicare, 80% of hospitals and more than 50% of doctor’s offices nationwide will have electronic medical records by the end of the year, compared with 9% and 17% in 2008, respectively, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last month.
Broadband enables health care providers to share a patient’s medical records electronically across departments and health care systems.
Digital images, such as X-rays and ultrasounds, can also be shared on a cloud-based network. Surgeons can co-perform surgeries from other cities via webcams.
“There’s a real need for hospitals to go digital for both electronic records and to interconnect with one another. If a surgeon is dong a remote heart exploration, they don’t want the system to go down,” said Mark Palchick, a communications attorney with Womble Carlyle in Washington, D.C. “It needs to be a high-speed, high-quality Internet connection to make it as real time as possible.”
The Rural Health Care Pilot Program launched in 2006. South Carolina health care providers received roughly $48,000 cumulatively last year for broadband costs through the FCC’s Rural Health Care pilot program.
Now out of the pilot stage, the program has expanded its criteria of who can apply this year.
Urban and rural health care providers can now apply for funds together, cutting costs for both hospitals and enabling them to share health records instantaneously. The consortium must be 50% rural.
Rural health care providers can also apply without a partner, and the definition of what constitutes rural has expanded as well. Funding will be awarded by January 2014.
The Abbeville Area Medical Center applied for the pilot program and received roughly $3,100 in 2012. The funds went to the hospital’s Internet provider, which refunds the Abbeville center at the end of the year. The center spends $10,000 annually on broadband.
“We’re a small rural hospital and we can use every penny that we can get to help reduce our costs,” said IT Manager Tim Stewart, who has worked at the Abbeville Area Medical Center for nine years. “We couldn’t do our job without broadband. Broadband access is critical for all health care providers because of the advances in technology.”
The FCC funding will cover the costs associated with broadband services, including the installation of fiber to receive broadband, said Rebecca Jacobs, a communications attorney with Womble Carlyle in Washington, D.C.
Each funding award is different based on the application and the provider’s needs.
