Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it is accepting applications for telecommunications grants worth up to $500,000 each to provide access to health care resources in rural areas, Modern Healthcare reports.
The grants -- which are authorized through USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program -- also target general education and training. The grants can be used to purchase equipment or provide technical assistance (Barr, Modern Healthcare, 2/25).
To be eligible for the grants, applicants must:
- Serve a rural area;
- Demonstrate economic need; and
- Provide at least 15% in matching funds.
Grant applications are due April 25 (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 2/25).
Previous Grants
In January, USDA awarded 45 similar telemedicine grants (Modern Healthcare, 2/25).
Since the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program began, it has funded a total of 1,269 projects in 49 states, four territories and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Healthcare IT News, 2/25)