New York, Connecticut hospitals team on $9M telemedicine effort

A four-year, $9 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission will help eight hospitals and 40 primary care facilities in New York and Connecticut build a new telemedicine network beginning in January, North Country Public Radio reports. The project--known as the Adirondack-Champlain Telemedicine Information Network--will connect the various entities using fiber optic lines, which are expected to dramatically boost bandwidth for moving information from facility to facility.

Rosemary Miller, an information technology employee with Champlain Valley Physicians' Hospital--one of the facilities involved--told North County Public Radio the network will help to reduce redundancy in testing. "If I have [information] and I can get it to you, there's no need for you to do it over again at another facility," she said. Article