HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy and the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) announced that funding for the Telehealth Network Grant Program (TNGP) and the Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program (TRCGP) are now available. The TNGP will provide $2,000,000 to be available annually to fund up to eight grantees for fiscal years 2010-2012.
The primary objective of the TNGP is to demonstrate how telehealth programs and networks can improve access to quality healthcare services in underserved rural and urban communities. Applicants can apply for the TNGP in one of two areas. The grants for the Telehealth Networks involves the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support and promote long distance clinical healthcare, patient and professional health related education, public health, and health administration.
In addition, the Telehomecare Network grants will be awarded to evaluate the cost and effectiveness of remote vital sign monitoring of individual patients to deliver healthcare services to the home by a healthcare provider using telecommunications technologies.
For fiscal year 2010, funding will be available for telehealth projects that comprise mixed networks to provide services to both urban underserved areas, as well as rural areas. These projects may include some urban as well as rural Telehealth Network Partner spoke sites that receive telehealth services.
The TNGP seeks to fund nonprofit organizations with a demonstrable successful track record in implementing telehealth, and with knowledge on how to expand services to new communities and/or populations. OAT is looking to fund projects that will effectively integrate administrative and clinical information systems with the proposed telehealth system and integrate the system into each provider’s normal healthcare practice. The funds are to be used to fund network expansion and/or increase services provided by existing successful telehealth networks.
The deadline for TNGP (HRSA-10-213) applications is June 14, 2010. The program contact for TNGP is Carlos Mena with OAT and he can be reached at (301) 443-3198 or by email at cmena@hrsa.hhs.gov.
The Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program (TRCGP) announcement also released on May 5th has funding for $975,000 to include three awards. The purpose of TRCGP is to establish and develop Telehealth Resource Centers (TRC). These centers are to provide technical assistance to healthcare organization, healthcare networks, and healthcare providers to help implement cost effective telehealth programs to serve rural and medically underserved areas and populations.
This cycle of grant funding will support up to nine centers to serve as focal points to advance the effective use of telehealth technologies in their respective communities and regions for clinical care. The funds will support six regional TRCs, two Telehomecare TRCs, and one National Telehealth Resource Center.
The deadline for TRCGP applications is June 15th, 2010. The program contact for TRCGP is Monica M. Cowan, with OAT, and she can be reached at (301) 443-0076 or by email at monica.cowan@hrsa.hhs.gov.
For more details on both announcements, go to http://www.grants.gov/.
