About Our Project:

The Central Iowa Hospital Corporation proposes to bring broadband capabilities to medical facilities across rural and underserved parts of Iowa.  In a state with hundreds of thousands of underinsured residents residing in medically underserved locations, this project aims to improve health care and delivery, provide education and training for rural health practitioners, facilitate tele-health, support disaster readiness, and promote health education and awareness for residents.  The awardee plans to partner with over 100 community serving institutions including 56 healthcare clinics and providers and 21 EMS units, seven city governments, and over 30 educational institutions by deploying equipment, broadband connectivity, training, and support to these critical community facilities.  The project also plans to link correctional facilities with tele-health providers to create savings to taxpayers by significantly mitigating costs associated with transporting inmates.    The effort also expects to stimulate job creation within the rural health sector while improving health outcomes in medically underserved communities and delivering training and education to the rural healthcare workforce. 

This project is funded through a two-year grant of$8,321,815 from the U.S Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Our Mission:

The Rural Iowa TeleHealth Initiative also proposes to:

• Provide 2,400 hours of teacher-led training each year for approximately 7,900 residents via distance learning over the three-year life of the project.
• Train over 1,000 healthcare staff in broadband-enabled tele-health capabilities.
• Leverage BTOP infrastructure awards to the Iowa Health System and Iowa Communications Network to support its sustainable broadband adoption goals.
• Measure and report on the use, outcomes, and satisfaction with tele-health technology to help inform future health technology efforts.

 Project Partners:

• Clarke County Hospital
• Greene County Medical Center
• Guthrie County Hospital
• Grundy County Memorial Hospital 

Contact: 

Tracy D Warner

Central Iowa Hospital Corporation

1200 Pleasant St

Des Moines, IA 503091406

(515) 263-248

WarnerTD@ihs.org