The New England Telehealth Consortium will link 555 clinics, doctor’s offices, hospitals, public health centers and universities across Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Health-care experts say the network will essentially create a “second Internet,” dedicated solely to meeting the geographic and technological challenges of providing quality health care in rural areas.
“This is going to develop an infrastructure that’s really going to position our rural areas to be players in the health information age,” said Charles Dwyer, of the Maine Office of Rural Health and Primary Care.
Details of the network, funded by a $24 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission, will be announced today at a press conference in Bangor.
Gov. John Baldacci will participate in the event, as will members of the state’s congressional delegation, public health officials and representatives of the telehealth consortium.
Dwyer said the grant will pay for construction of a fiber optic network capable of rapidly moving large files among hospitals, universities, clinics and medical offices.
That means health care providers can share images such as x- rays, still or video images of a patient undergoing examination, medical records, and video teleconferences.
“This will allow for the kinds of services that would previously be only available face to face because the resolution on a limited broadband network just would not allow for a clean enough picture of enough detail,” Dwyer said.
The FCC is tapping the universal service fund, paid by consumers as part of their monthly phone bills, to underwrite the telehealth network. Nationally, the agency has dedicated $417 million to building 69 statewide or regional networks over the next three years.
The $24 million awarded to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont is the largest single allotment. The FCC dollars represent 85 percent of the system’s costs. Consortium members and other sources will provide the remaining funds.
The funding application for the telehealth consortium was submitted by ProInfoNet, a telecommunications consulting firm that will build the network.
Trevor Gordon, a managing agent for the project at ProInfoNet, said the firm hopes to start bringing the system online in May or June.
John Gale, president of the New England Rural Health Roundtable, said the network is a major step forward in the rural health care system. He said the network will allow hospitals or doctors who can’t afford their own diagnostic services to have access to better technology.
“Having a consistent infrastructure around electronic communications is a big deal,” he said. “More and more as we move forward, we’ll see a lot of this in the health care system.”
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