Rural health care wins telephone tax refunding

Vap

LINCOLN -- Rural Nebraska patients will increasingly be closer to medical specialists as a result of action taken by the Nebraska Public Service Commission.

The five-member Commission approved a request by the Nebraska Hospital Association to provide up to $900,000 annually from the Nebraska Universal Service Fund to assist with telecommunications connectivity between the state's rural hospitals and trauma centers located in larger cities. Nebraskans pay 6.95 percent of their monthly bill for most telephone services to the state's universal service fund that is charged with keeping telecommunications services affordable for Nebraska residents. Fifth District Commissioner Jerry Vap of McCook said the NUSF funds will be paid to telecommunications providers to keep the cost of telehealth services at an affordable level.

Telehealth will provide three major benefits in the state: 1) Increase the ability to diagnose a patient's illness at the local level;

2) Strengthen the role of the primary physician with the availability of specialists; and

3) Provide a mechanism for training programs at a local level for health care providers.

Commissioner Frank Landis of Lincoln said, "Telehealth will provide a link between the state's 50-some rural health centers and facilities and specialists in larger settings. Telehealth's voice and video connections will make it possible for x-rays taken in a rural hospital's emergency room to be read by a radiologist at a trauma center in another part of the state without requiring the patient to leave the rural hospital."

Follow-ups to surgery and other treatment also will be able to be done at the local level via telehealth by rural health care providers in consultation with specialists. "What we've done is nullified distance," said Landis.

Vap said the NUSF-support will supplement federal funds available for the telehealth project. The Commission's approval requires tapping federal dollars for support and a plan to be submitted annually for state monies. The first annual state plan will be due by April 1 and on April 1 in subsequent years.

"The Public Service Commission is pleased to open this avenue of support for Telehealth," Vap said. "The health care benefits of this program will be of immeasurable benefit to the entire State of Nebraska," he said.