Federal Grant Gives Rural Health Providers Edge In Delivering Quality Patient Care

09/07/2007 -- Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen today announced Tennessee will get a $1.6 million federal grant to deploy the Middle Tennessee Rural Health Information Network (MTRHIN), a project within his eHealth initiative dedicated to improving health-care services for Tennessee’s rural patients.

“If we are to advance the quality of health care for all Tennessee patients, we need to develop systems that allow health care providers to electronically share and track patient data seamlessly,” Bredesen said. “This project moves Tennessee forward in connecting health providers in all of our 95 counties to a single network where they can share electronic medical records with each other and with providers in other states’ electronic health networks.”

MTRHIN will connect four, rural non-profit hospitals to a single health information network and allow the hospitals to securely share patient data and information, such as diagnoses, immunizations, procedures, lab reports and medications.

The hospitals in MTRHIN will include: Trousdale Medical Center, Hartsville; Macon County General Hospital, Lafayette; Riverview Regional Medical Center South, Carthage; and, Sumner Regional Medical Center, Gallatin.

The Tennessee Department of Health, the grant recipient, will work with the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) and Community Health Network (CHN) to develop and manage MTRHIN. CHN is a not-for-profit corporation that provides telehealth technology to health care providers in rural Tennessee communities.

CHN has worked closely with Bredesen’s eHealth Council to deploy its state-of-the-art Telehealth Network to federally qualified health care clinics (FQHC) in Tennessee. CHN currently has six FQHCs on its network and plans to have a total of 43 FQHCs and other health care facilities, including seven community mental health clinics, connected by the end of 2007.

“Rural health care agencies frequently collaborate to meet the needs of patients in their communities,” said Antoine Agassi, chair of Bredesen’s eHealth Council. “These grants reinforce that our eHealth strategy is sound and has support at the local, state and federal level.”

Ultimately, the hospitals in MTRHIN will also connect to the regional health care clinics in CHN’s Telehealth Network, allowing for broader collaboration among health care providers in upper Middle Tennessee.

Bredesen formed the eHealth Council in 2006 to coordinate initiatives across the state for creating electronic medical records. Bredesen’s leadership in the arena of eHealth led to the National Governors Association (NGA) appointing him co-chair of NGA’s State Alliance for eHealth with Vermont Governor Jim Douglas.

The Health Resources and Services Administration, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the federal agency awarding the grant to MTRHIN.

Source: Governor's Office