The U.S. Department of Commerce has granted $14.7 million to Dartmouth's C. Everett Koop Institute to improve medical telecommunication services.
The Koop Institute plans to use the funds over the next five years to develop information models and tools that can more fully computerize the health care industry.
Based at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the Koop Institute is a partnership of educators, scholars, researchers and practicing physicians that examines health care issues and tries to improve health services.
"This grant represents a tremendous victory for the C. Everett Koop Institute and for New Hampshire," U.S. Rep. Dick Swett, D-N.H., said to the Manchester Union Leader.
The grant will build an "on-ramp to the information superhighway," which will link rural medical centers to larger urban medical centers via computer and serve as a model for other areas of the country, he said.
The Koop Institute will work with joint venture collaborators in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
"We are very pleased to take a leading role in the application of advanced communication technology to the health care sector," C. Everett Koop, senior scholar of the Koop Institute and former U.S. Surgeon General, said in a press statement.
David Serra, the administrative director of the Koop Institute, said in the press statement, "Although this grant benefits the nation as a whole, it should be particularly meaningful to people in the northern New England states."
Maine , New Hampshire and Vermont are similar because they have medium-sized urban areas surrounded by large rural areas where doctors need a link to more extensive city facilities, Serra said.
The grant is part of the Commerce Department's Advanced Technology Program, a component of a five-year, $185 million budget to develop information standards and technologies for the health care industry.
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown announced the grant at an Oct. 24 press conference.
Koop could not be reached for comment and Serra did not return numerous phone calls.
