New Mexico university wins $15.5M FCC grant for rural telemedicine expansion

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has awarded the Center for Telehealth and Cybermedicine Research at the University of New Mexico's Health Sciences Center a $15.5 million grant to design, build, operate and evaluate a Southwest Telehealth Access Grid, one of 69 projects nationwide funded by FCC.

According to The Washington Post, the grid of telehealth networks will support 500 rural sites, mainly in New Mexico and Arizona, as well as several Indian Health Service sites in California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

The grid will create a virtual electronic highway for patients to access healthcare at a distance, said Dale Alverson, medical director of the Center for Telehealth at the UNM's Health Sciences Center, The Post reported.

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