By Kelley Weiss
Kansas City, MO – The University of Kansas Medical Center will use new grant money to bring health care to underserved, rural communities through the internet. KCUR's Kelley Weiss reports.
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The Health Resources and Services Administration $750,000 grant will go to KU Med's TeleMedicine program - which allows doctors in Kansas City to have virtual patient visits, through video teleconferencing, with Kansans in underserved areas around the state.
Ryan Spaulding, director of KU's TeleMedicine and TeleHealth Center, says the 15-year-old program is now putting an emphasis on serving children with special needs. He says this program will give kids in rural areas access to healthcare and specialists they might not get otherwise.
Ryan Spaulding: "For a lot of these kids they may not get the care at all. If they can't afford to travel or maybe they don't have a vehicle or something they just won't get the treatment or the diagnosis."
Spaulding says KU will use the grant money to focus on diagnosing and treating autism in kids. And, he says, the program will serve 13 communities around Kansas including sites in Salina, Dodge City and Horton.
Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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