Iowa will receive more than $17 million in grants from the Federal Communications Commission to help connect hospitals throughout the state with high-speed networks for advanced tele-health services. The Iowa Hospital Association and Iowa Health System each submitted requests for the broadband infrastructure grants in May and will be awarded in equal amounts over a three-year period.

“By connecting rural hospitals with Iowa’s large urban hospitals and research institutions, all Iowans – from communities large and small – will now have access to the latest medical research and health services,” said Gov. Chet Culver, who joined the two organizations in announcing the grants yesterday, in a press release. “These steps will ensure all Iowans have access to the health care they not only need, but deserve.”

These pilot projects are part of a national effort to integrate rural health-care facilities and providers into a larger network. The grants will give rural hospitals access to other hospitals through the Internet and educational research networks for voice, video conferencing and transfer of electronic medical records.

Better telecommunications infrastructure is expected to enhance patient services by providing more timely diagnosis and treatment or transfer of patients, increasing rapid access to and transmission of medical imagery, extending and improving response to terrorism and disasters, allowing for the transfer of electronic medical records and enabling remote care for intensive care patients.