HHS Announces Grant Program to Create Telehealth Centers

The HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) plans to provide $1.9 million in grant funding to fund an additional network of telehealth resource centers.

HRSA is administering the grants through the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program. This competitive program provides funds for projects demonstrating the use of telehealth networks to improve healthcare delivery and services.  The six grants will be issued to one national center at $300,000 and five regional centers at $350,000 each. In order to qualify for the regional grants, the telehealth programs mush demonstrate they serve both rural communities and the underserved.

The deadline to apply for the grant program is February 25. The grants are renewable for as many as three years. Once completed the centers will join a network currently comprised of two national centers and 12 regional.

The goal of this new grant program funding is to further the mission to have every state covered by a Telehealth Resource Center. In this funding cycle, HRSA is seeking applicant to provide coverage to the following states: Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Hawaii, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Grant applicants will use the funds to:

• provide technical assistance, training, and support, for health care providers and a range of health care entities (including HRSA grantees) that provide or will provide telehealth services
• disseminate information and research findings related to telehealth services
• promote effective collaboration among telehealth resource centers
• conduct evaluations to determine the best utilization of telehealth technologies to meet health care needs
• promote the integration of the technologies used in clinical information systems with other telehealth technologies
• foster the use of telehealth technologies to provide health care information education for health care providers and consumers

For more information or to apply visit Grants.gov.