$20 Million Allocation will Interconnect Oregon Healthcare Facilities

Oregon Health Network Pilot Project Receives Funds from Historic FCC Program to Build Telehealth Network Throughout the State.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Communities from all corners of the state have received a significant financial commitment from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The Commission has allocated up to $20,182,625 over a three-year period to establish the Oregon Health Network (OHN), which will link more than 300 health care facilities in urban, rural and frontier communities through broadband connections.

Oregon's allocation is one of the larger awards from the FCC's $417 million Rural Health Care Pilot Program, which is dedicated to the construction of statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks throughout the country. The funding allocation is the largest in the FCC's history.

When completed, OHN will connect Oregon hospitals, clinics, county public health offices, physicians, mental health, dental and optical clinics, and health education institutions, including community colleges, with a level of interactive service and access once only imagined in rural and underserved communities.

The OHN is designed to be inter-operable with Oregon Public Safety and Emergency Management networks and Oregon government and education networks. Spearheaded by the Telehealth Alliance of Oregon, the OHN proposal resulted from collaboration among more than 150 individuals and organizations throughout the state. The application to the FCC was submitted by the Oregon Association of Hospitals Research and Education Foundation. "Through the participation and support of Oregon hospitals and clinics, health care providers, educators, and state and federal elected leaders, the Oregon Health Network will advance access to health care services across every corner of the state," said Kimberly Hoffman, chair of the Telehealth Alliance of Oregon.

"OHN has the potential to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of Oregonians by bringing improved access to clinical health care services and health education opportunities, particularly in the state's health care workforce shortage areas and medically underserved populations."

Patients, health care providers, health plans, communities and education programs all benefit from the OHN. Patients receive access to state of the art health care in otherwise underserved areas, such as rural communities. Telemedicine improves collaboration among providers by sharing secure and confidential access to electronic medical records.

OHN will also provide the foundation for improved emergency preparedness applications for hospitals, clinics, private practitioners, public health, emergency medical services and tribal partners who currently cannot communicate across jurisdictions during day-to-day operations and large-scale incidents.

Critical project attention came from the 2007 Legislature when it unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 20 to promote and facilitate telecommunication network development. SJR 20 was introduced by Senators Laurie Monnes Anderson and David Nelson. Also, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski provided a letter of support and Oregon's entire Congressional Delegation sent letters and kept in close contact with the FCC during the application review process.

What does this mean to a rural Oregon community? In Silverton, in the eastern part of Marion County, it means access to fiber optic cable that will replace the current T1 copper telephone lines not adequate to carry an increasing amount of electronic data. "Since converting to digital imaging, our need for greater bandwidth continues to grow. Everyday around 3:00 PM, the digital pipeline slows to a crawl. This delays sending and receiving diagnostic reports and images to referring physicians who need them," said Gary Pulsipher, CEO of Silverton Hospital.

Andy Davidson, president and CEO of Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems said, "Oregon's hospitals will continue to provide the leadership to ensure that this ground breaking project is successful."

The FCC order, adopted November 19th 2007, will become effective on publication in the Federal Register. Additional information can be found on the Telehealth Alliance of Oregon web site, ortelehealth.org.