The joint efforts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and HHS to increase the use of health IT in rural areas has expanded to Tennessee, where part of the initiative's $70 million in total funding has gone to helping rural providers in 10 counties implement electronic health records and begin to utilize telemedicine and mHealth technologies.
"We want doctors and hospitals serving our poorest rural communities across Tennessee to be able to afford the technology upgrades they need to improve care for patients and rural veterans in their communities," said Jennifer Ride of the Tennessee Health IT Regional Extension Center, in an ONC blog post.
Similar efforts are underway in Iowa and Mississippi.
More Articles on Rural Health IT:
The Successes of Regional Extension Centers: 8 Takeaways
CMS to Launch Program to Better Integrate Rural Healthcare
Meaningful Use Outside of the Metropolis: The Challenges of Rural Health IT Adoption