HOULTON, Maine — Finding doctors and getting to appointments can be a challenge for those who live in rural areas like northern Maine.
Fortunately, providing health care to patients on a remote basis will get a little bit easier for those in southern Aroostook County thanks to a recent grant from the Federal Communications Commission.
The FCC approved funding commitments in January totaling $47.89 million as part of its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Houlton Regional Hospital was one of 100 applications approved nationwide to get aid to bolster its telehealth department, and the only health-care facility in the state to receive funds during this second round of grants.
The Houlton hospital was awarded $277,934 to purchase devices, including tablets and telehealth carts, and software, that will support and connect patients to both primary care and specialty care physicians from the comfort of their own homes. The devices can also help connect those patients to more specialists around the state and country.
The award is the FCC’s sixth and final funding announcement of approved Round 2 applications. The FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program supports the efforts of health care providers to continue serving their patients by providing reimbursement for telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices necessary to enable telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has forced us to think differently about how to deliver health care services and the FCC has risen to the challenge through a number of telehealth programs, including our COVID-19 Telehealth Program,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a press release.
Funding for the awards was included as part of a nearly $250 million federal initiative established as part of the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) act. Over the course of two funding rounds, this program has approved 986 awards to providers in each state, territory and the District of Columbia.
“The FCC’s telehealth grant has allowed our team to implement state-of-the-art network security, data storage, and processing platforms to further enhance Houlton Regional Hospital’s telehealth capacity,” said Ian Small, network analyst at HRH. “These systems, many of which are already in place, are providing additional protection for our staff and our patients who now use so much specialty software. Moving forward into the future, these systems really allow us to build out faster, safer, and more efficient services for our users, and ultimately, our patients.”
Tammy McClean, information systems manager at HRH, added that the grant will help the local hospital in ways that were never before possible.
“With the upcoming update of our current Electronic Medical Record (Meditech System) along with Point of care devices, Computers and CARTS, our physicians and staff will be able to reach our patients with services we are not able to offer in our community,” McClean said. “The expansion of telehealth services for mental health and other medical specialties will allow patients to remain in the community, or in their homes for these physician visits.”
