Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma has provided Oklahoma State University (OSU) Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa with a $250,000 grant to expand the OSU Telehealth network and provide additional access to healthcare for residents in rural areas of the state.
The OSU Telehealth network consists of more than 60 sites in 49 cities and towns stretching from Felt in the Oklahoma panhandle to Idabel in southeastern Oklahoma. The university also operates a mobile telemedicine clinic to offer Telehealth services in communities without a fixed site.
Through the OSU Telehealth network, residents in rural communities can receive access to specialty care like dermatology, psychology, psychiatry, pulmonology, cardiology, and internal medicine.
Funding from the grant will be used for new distance learning sites at rural hospitals in the cities of Altus, Ardmore, McAlester and Stillwater, and to establish a fixed telemedicine site for medical consultations at Arkansas Verdigris Valley Health Centers in Porter.
“Our primary mission at the OSU Center for Health Sciences is to provide primary care physicians for rural and underserved Oklahoma," Kayse Shrum, OSU Center for Health Sciences president, said in a statement. "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma is one of our strongest partners in meeting this mission and recognizing the key role our Telehealth program plays in delivering healthcare to residents all across our state.
