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Rural connections. Iowa hospitals are establishing communications link to better serve rural areas.

The Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation, with 14 hospitals in Iowa, and the Mercy Health Centers of Central Iowa, with 13 hospitals in the state, believe fiber-optic technology may provide solutions to the inadequacies inherent in the rural healthcare delivery system. Since 1989, Iowa has committed more than $100 million toward the development and installation of a statewide fiber-optic communication network. The Iowa Communication Network (ICN) was originally envisioned as a means of providing voice, data, and interactive video capabilities to state government agencies, libraries, schools, and colleges. Currently, only hospitals with medical education programs are authorized to use the network, but others are expected to be allowed to soon. Realizing the potential benefits telemedicine and the ICN posed, in June 1993 the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation and the Mercy Health Centers of Central Iowa jointly established the Midwest Rural Telemedicine Consortium (MRTC) to enhance rural residents' access to primary healthcare through integrated communications systems. The MRTC is trying to secure federal funding to conduct a demonstration project in eight hospitals. The project's goal is to determine how the use of telemedicine applications, specifically fiber-optic applications, affects access, quality, and costs in providing specialty healthcare services to rural patients.