Blue Cross wins telemedicine grant

Blue Cross wins telemedicine grant

Blue Cross of California has received an award of $1.8 million to initiate a telemedicine program for rural communities in California. The Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) made the grant as part of the Healthy Families Program, a state-supported insurance program that provides low-cost health, dental, and vision coverage for children of low-income working families. MRMIB established the Rural Health Demonstration Awards in an effort to give rural communities access to health and specialty care.

The grant is expected to fund about 20 new telemedicine sites statewide, as well as extend the company's telemedicine capabilties in roughly 15 others. Blue Cross will take advantage of the already-established telemedicine infrastructure at The University of California, Davis, as it expands its telemedicine base in northern California. Part of the grant funds will be used to develop Blue Cross' telemedicine capabilities at 15 sites in the Northern Sierra Rural Health Network, and the company will work with Cedars Sinai Medical Center as it initiates sites in southern California.

• Search again
• Homepage