The USDA is granting $42.3 million to fund more than 80 new telemedicine projects for rural healthcare providers across the country, according to a Feb. 25 news release.
COVID-19 infection and death rates in rural America are 13.4 percent higher than in urban areas, according to a recent Rural Policy Research Institute report. Through its Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program, the USDA aims to increase access to virtual care through telecommunications technologies and education.
The funding will be dispersed to 86 different projects in 34 different states as well as American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta is among the funding participants and will receive a $997,194 grant to purchase telecommunications, distance learning and telemedicine equipment throughout service hubs in underserved rural areas across Georgia.