CCMH is Announced As A Recipient of MOBroadbandNow Grant

9/5/2012

DEXTER, Mo. – Eleven rural hospitals throughout Missouri will soon be able to provide improved telemedicine care for their patients, thanks to $262,000 in grants from the MoBroadbandNow initiative announced today by Gov. Jay Nixon. The Governor made the announcement in Dexter at Missouri Southern Healthcare, one of the recipients of a Rural Hospital Broadband Connection grant, where he was joined by local healthcare leaders and by officials from the MoBroadbandNow program.

“One of the very real benefits of improved broadband service in rural Missouri is in telemedicine – connecting Missourians and their physicians with specialists many miles away who can look at high-resolution images and receive other vital information on a real-time basis to help doctors treat those patients,” Gov. Nixon said. “Expanded broadband accessibility between healthcare providers will mean access to quicker and more specialized care that is often life-saving for patients.”

Missouri Southern Healthcare, formerly known as Dexter Memorial Hospital, is a 50-patient bed acute care hospital with six rural health clinics. The hospital is receiving a grant of up to $25,000 to help increase broadband speed throughout its healthcare system and to expand its connectivity with the clinics. The current broadband speed of 1.5Mbps will improve to 10Mbps, allowing for improved telemedicine services, such as radiology imaging. Missouri Southern Healthcare will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.
“I commend Missouri Southern Healthcare and the other rural hospitals for their efforts to use these benefits as part of their healthcare missions,” the Governor said. “We continue to see how MoBroadbandNow has benefited Missouri in healthcare, education, public safety and commerce, and will do so for decades to come.”

In addition to the grant for the hospital in Dexter, Gov. Nixon also announced 10 other grants, including:

• Advanced Healthcare Medical Center in Ellington, a 25-patient bed critical access hospital which will receive up to $24,800 to improve its broadband speed to serve the hospital, six rural health clinics and one specialty clinic. The hospital will provide $6,200 in matching funds for the project.

• Carroll County Memorial Hospital in Carrollton, a 25-patient bed critical access hospital with three rural health clinics which will use its grant of up to $25,000 to help improve telemedicine services in geriatric, psychiatry and dermatology fields, as well as radiology imaging and patient record management. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• Cedar County Memorial Hospital in El Dorado Springs, a critical access hospital which will receive up to $25,000 to greatly increase the speed for delivery of radiology imaging and enhance patient medical record availability. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• John Fitzgibbon Memorial Hospital in Marshall, a community hospital with three rural health clinics and six specialty clinics, will use a grant of up to $25,000 to increase broadband speed to two clinics in Slater and Brunswick. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• Madison Memorial Hospital in Fredericktown, a 25-patient bed critical access hospital, will receive up to $25,000 to support telemedicine services and help the hospital partner with larger healthcare providers and networks. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• Northwest Medical Center in Albany, a critical access hospital with four rural health clinics which will use its grant of up to $25,000 to increase broadband speed to its clinics and to support disaster preparedness and emergency management for the area. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems in Hayti, a 49-bed acute care hospital with eight rural health clinics, will receive up to $14,352 to increase broadband speed to its clinics to support radiology imaging, patient record management and administration efficiency. The hospital will provide $3,588 in matching funds for the project.

• Sac-Osage Hospital in Osceola, a non-profit hospital with two rural health clinics, will use its grant of up to $25,000 to increase broadband speed to its clinics. The hospital will provide $5,000 in matching funds for the project.

• Sullivan County Memorial Hospital in Milan, a critical access hospital with two rural health clinics which will receive up to $23,238 to upgrade existing broadband speed to its clinics. The hospital will provide $5,809 in matching funds for the project.

• Washington County Memorial Hospital in Potosi, a 25-patient bed critical access hospital with two rural health clinics which will receive up to $25,000 to provide a broadband connection to its Bonne Terre Clinic. The hospital will provide up to $30,000 in matching funds for the project.

The grants, which come from a federal grant to the state of Missouri as part of its state broadband plan, will be distributed in seven installments between Dec. 1, 2012 and July 31, 2014.

Gov. Nixon launched the MoBroadbandNow initiative in 2009 to greatly expand broadband to reach more homes, businesses, schools, health care facilities, and public safety agencies. Missouri is now in the middle of seeing a total investment of more than $310 million to expand broadband throughout the state, through a combination of federal, state, local and private sector resources, including more than $192 million in competitive federal funding obtained by the state of Missouri and its private and local partners