FCC starts program for broadband health networks

The Federal Communications Commission has announced a $400 million pilot program to deploy broadband health networks for rural health care in 42 states and three U.S. territories.

At a Chicago meeting of the American Health Information Community, held in conjunction with the American Medical Informatics Association's annual conference, Martin called the program "a major step toward the goal of connecting healthcare facilities across the nation with one another through broadband telehealth networks."

Martin "estimated that, over the three-year life of the program, it would ultimately enable connections with about 6,000 health-care providers," reports Fred Bazzoli of Health Care IT News. "The FCC last year launched a pilot program to provide funding for as much as 85 percent of an applicant's cost of deploying a dedicated broadband network to connect healthcare providers in rural and urban areas within a state or region."

UPDATE, Nov. 20: Kim Hart of The Washington Post reports on the first round of grants.