Utah is getting $1.7 million in grants to help fund telehealth services in rural parts of the state. The funding, announced on Nov. 27 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, comes through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program. The program aims to increase access to health care and education opportunities that might otherwise be limited or unavailable.
The money has been awarded in two lumps: $719,715 to Gunnison Valley Hospital in Sanpete County and $999,999 to The Utah Department of Corrections. Together, 20 Utah counties will be served in a hub-and-spoke model in which patients travel a short distance to a local clinic or hospital, where they would then be connected with health care specialists.
For rural health care providers, it’s a welcome addition.
“We're very much invested in trying to ensure that our communities have access to health care,” said TriCounty Health director Kirk Benge. “And I think telemedicine and telehealth can be a very important solution, especially when someone just needs a consultation.”
TriCounty Health covers Dagget, Duchesne and Uintah counties in northeastern Utah and will support the local hospitals and clinics that will be administering the new services.
“I think this is a good boost to help firm up that infrastructure and maybe modernize it,” he said.
Michele Weaver, USDA’s Utah director of rural development, said the money will help fill a service gap where it’s “hard to get experts and sometimes even just anybody licensed in a small town.”
“I think having that access to expertise [virtually] just makes care so much more accessible for rural areas.”
Telemedicine is also seen as a way for rural patients to save time and money they would otherwise use to travel for care.
The money is geared toward improving mental health and substance abuse services by better connecting medical specialists to those who can’t travel. According to Benge, those two areas of care could benefit the most.
“I think for some of those really acute situations where time is important, telemedicine and telehealth can offer really good solutions,” said Benge. “Especially in rural areas where we may have a more limited number of qualified professional providers, they can offer the same service as a larger area.”
In Gunnison, new mobile telehealth equipment will be purchased to expand access at 10 remote locations. And the Department of Corrections will fund equipment and staffing at six hubs and 19 end-user sites across the state.
“The goal of this project is to utilize our staff, whether it's inside of the institution or our community staff and community partners, to expand access,” said Lena Gustafson, the department’s clinical deputy director for reentry and rehabilitation. “This will help be able to serve mental health needs, whether it's, you know, a clinical diagnosis of depression or anxiety and substance use needs.”
Although the grant money is a one-time payment, Gustafson thinks there’s an opportunity to show the programs are worth permanent future state funding.
“If we can truly track and measure the outcome of how successful we are providing services, I think we would have a lot to ask for and I think it would be supported,” she said. “I would love for the state to step in if possible or, you know, look at other grants.”
Gustafson said the new telehealth services should start to come online early next year.
