LANSING ? A greatly expanded telemedicine network throughout the state will allow state residents to rural areas to stay closer to home when in need of medical treatments thanks to a $20.9 million, three-year grant from the Federal Communications Commission.

The money will be used to extend high speed Internet connections to 390 public hospitals, primary care clinics, and other similar facilities in rural and tribal lands, as part of the Rural Health Care Pilot Project. The amount is the fourth highest awarded nationwide. The Michigan Public Health Institute and the Michigan Departments of Community Health and Information Technology submitted Michigan’s proposal to the FCC earlier this year.

Also as a part of this award, rural health care providers will see their rates for access to high-speed broadband internet reduced to be competitive with the cost in urban areas. The cost for high speed internet in rural areas is typically more expensive than in urban areas.

“This initiative will improve the quality of care in rural areas while saving rural residents substantial travel costs when smaller hospitals and clinics are unable to perform necessary medical services,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm. “This is another step we are taking to ensure that our health care industry uses technology to vastly improve the system, reduce costs, and protect our privacy.”

This award will allow Michigan to offer competitive bids to the private sector to extend high speed broadband internet to health care providers in underserved areas of the state. The new network infrastructure will connect existing state health networks to each other and Internet2 at speeds ranging from 1.5 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

The fine print reads that the funding will first be allocated to increase broadband availability and affordability in rural clinics and small hospitals. Then funding will increase the amount of bandwidth to regional and referral hospitals so they can handle the increase in telehealth traffic.

For example, a single MRI can require many megabytes of bandwidth, which is currently not available at these facilities.

Granholm thanked members of the Michigan congressional delegation for their support. “This award is the result of a bipartisan effort, and I applaud the members of the Michigan congressional delegation for their work to make this happen,” said Granholm. “Without the support of Senators Stabenow and Levin, and Representatives Stupak, Dingell, Upton, Miller, Ehlers, Walberg, Kildee, Camp and Hoekstra, this would not be possible.”

The report and more information can be found by clicking on MIHIN.Org

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