* Sixteen grants were awarded to assist communities in developing advanced telehealth networks in rural communities and to evaluate the use of home-telehealth services in rural communities;
* Two grants were awarded to overcome licensure barriers to the effective use of telehealth services; and
* Six grants funded centers of excellence to provide technical assistance to communities in developing telehealth services across the nation.

HHS - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), along with HRSA, launched a health IT Community Web portal for safety-net providers. The portal provides a virtual meeting place for users who share documents and exchange tools and resources on designing, implementing, and using health IT. To date, about 2,000 health centers, primary care associations, and maternal and child health grantees are using the site. For more information, visit: http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/

AHRQ's mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Since 2004, AHRQ has funded over 175 projects and demonstrations in the form of grants, contracts and cooperative agreements to advance health IT and telemedicine. These projects focus on the impact of health IT and telemedicine on the quality, safety, effectiveness and efficiency of health care and best practices that can improve quality of care. Funding for these projects totals $216 million with projects in over 40 states and territories.

Outcomes from AHRQ-funded projects indicate improvements in patients' health status and experiences with the health care system.

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A project in Minnesota demonstrated that remote pharmacy services provided to rural hospitals during irregular hours can more effectively detect and prevent dangerous medication errors than traditional methods whereby pharmacists manually review "night and weekend" orders first thing in the morning before turning to day shift activities.

-A project in New York demonstrated that remote pediatric care can treat common childhood illnesses from schools and child care centers. This helped parents avoid missing work, and reduced unnecessary trips to the emergency room.
-A project in New Mexico demonstrated that telemedicine can effectively support rural primary-care clinicians in caring for patients with chronic, common, and complex diseases by delivering case-based information and support.
-A project in Oklahoma has helped patients in rural parts of the state receive better quality of care -- including treatment for previously undetected diabetes and faster healing of wounds - when home health care workers were connected remotely with specialists, including certified wound care nurses and endocrinologists. A combination of images from digital cameras, video phone encounters, and access to electronic health records was used to improve care for home-bound and nursing home patients with wounds that are difficult to diagnose and treat.

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