HCFA to Fund Telemedicine Networks

HCFA to Fund Telemedicine Networks

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Care Financing Administration last week signaled that it intends to fund telemedicine networks for a demonstration project that will show how advanced computing and networking can be used to improve the care of Medicare patients suffering from diabetes.

"We are soliciting innovative proposals that will use medical informatics, including telemedicine, to improve primary care for Medicare beneficiaries who live in medically underserved rural and inner-city areas and who suffer from diabetes," reads HCFA's March 18 notice in the Federal Register (available through the U.S. Government Printing Office site at www.gpo.gov). Applicants have until April 17 to apply.