Health Care Services on Cape Cod to Benefit from OpenCape $32 Million NTIA Grant
Historic Project will Improve Healthcare Delivery for the Cape Cod and South Coast region
March 3, 2010
Sandwich MA - Officials of the non-profit OpenCape Corporation announced yesterday it will receive $32 million in federal funding as part of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). With $8 million dollars in matching funds from state and local resources, a total of $40 million dollars will be available to build broadband network access from the South Coast to the tip of Cape Cod.
New Network Will Improve Quality and Efficiency of Care, Reduce Costs
Healthcare providers and patients in Southeastern Massachusetts will be major beneficiaries of expanded access to broadband services. “The benefits to patients and consumers include improved safety and quality of care, while improving efficiency and reducing healthcare costs," says John Campbell, Chief Information Officer for Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands (RHCI) and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Campbell is the OpenCape Corporation Board of Directors representative for the healthcare sector and led efforts to marshal support from the region’s health care providers.
The grant will fund construction of a 350-mile fiber optic network, wireless microwave network, and regional data center that will provide the technological capacity for business development and have significant implications for enhancing health care delivery.
"Increased network capacity is vital to addressing the needs of 21st century healthcare delivery. OpenCape is a significant leap forward that will enable the entire healthcare continuum to work together seamlessly to ensure that patients receive the best possible care while reducing the cost burden for everyone," says RHCI President and Chief Executive Officer Carol Sim.
OpenCape's application for the grant has strong support from health care leaders across the Cape and throughout the region. "RHCI is proud to have been coordinating efforts with Cape and regional hospitals, community health centers and others to ensure that every provider in Southeastern Massachusetts will have the infrastructure necessary to deliver this new standard of care," says Sim. Sim is a former board member of Cape Cod Technology Council, one of the founding organizations for OpenCape.
Electronic Medical Records
Creation of the telecommunications infrastructure advances a key goal of the Federal Government's healthcare reform, namely universal use of Electronic Health Records by health care providers, notes Campbell. This new capacity will also satisfy the criteria for "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records technology under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which requires universal access to, and interoperability of, health information across the continuum of care. "The OpenCape network will ensure that the physicians, hospitals and other providers in the Cape Cod region will have the middle-mile internet capacity necessary to achieving these important goals now and in the future," says Campbell.
Greater use of information technology, such as electronic medical records (EMR), has become a major focus of national healthcare reform efforts due to its potential to reduce overhead costs. Immediate savings to providers from better use of Health IT is conservatively estimated at $80 billion dollars nationally.
More importantly, better use of Health IT has also been shown to reduce medical errors and allow for patients and providers to easily access and share information. "Whether the patient is in the emergency room, receiving outpatient services, or being seen in the primary care physician's office, on the Cape or elsewhere, the health care team will have access to vital information in the patient's record," says Sim. This access will result in more efficient care and reduce the chance of errors or omissions.
RHCI is Anchor Institution for OpenCape Project
RHCI is among 70 anchor institutions for the OpenCape project. Other area hospitals, emergency services, schools, towns and municipalities will also be anchor institutions. Anchor institutions will be directly plugged into the network because of their critical roles within the community.
The OpenCape project will be built over the next three years, but the system is divided into rings that will permit smaller completed sections to come on-line sooner as independent segments. RHCI will continue to play an integral advisory role on the implementation for the healthcare industry of the region.
About RHCI
RHCI is a 60-bed, acute rehabilitation hospital in Sandwich, Massachusetts. A member of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, RHCI is affiliated with Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals as a member of Partners HealthCare System, Inc. RHCI and its four outpatient centers provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care to residents of Cape Cod, the Islands, South Shore, and South Coast regions. In 2005, RHCI established the Center for NeuroRecovery, which includes its Stroke Program, Brain Injury Program, and Parkinson's Disease Program.
About OpenCape Corporation
The OpenCape Corporation (www.opencape.com) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. OpenCape Corporation's purpose is to fulfill the need for a regional communications network on Cape Cod and the Islands to enhance education, research, and economic development, and provide for an emergency communications network in times of crisis.
