FCC to give millions to rural health groups for broadband networks

With high-speed Internet service, rural hospitals and clinics can access vital information from distant urban medical centers in a few seconds. Many rural clinics lack the broadband access needed to do so, but $417 million in grants from the Federal Communications Commission could help change that, reports The Washington Post.

"The three-year pilot program aims to help extend broadband lines to about 6,000 hospitals, research centers, universities and clinics in hard-to-reach regions, many of which still rely on dial-up Internet service," Kim Hart writes. "The faster connection could be used to upload patient records or for sending videos and pictures to diagnose the illness of someone hundreds of miles away."

For example, the West Virginia Telehealth Alliance will get $8.4 million to link 450 health-care facilities, including some in Virginia and Ohio. The money for the grants comes from the Universal Service Fund, which pools fees from long-distance and wireless subscribers. That fund has been used to help libraries, schools and rural areas, but it had not done enough for telehealth, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told Hart. (Read more) For a blog item on the FCC's announcement of the program last week, click here.