Sixty-Five Percent Savings on Secure, High-Speed Connections Available
CENTENNIAL, CO—October 22, 2013 The Pacific Northwest Healthcare Connect Consortium offers its members tremendous savings on technology expenses (such as broadband connection expenses, network hardware, and connections to virtual learning and research networks) thanks to a subsidy program offered through the FCC’s Healthcare Connect Fund.
Members benefit from the consortium’s ability to negotiate discounted connectivity rates from network service providers as well as network hardware. In addition to the negotiated discounts, eligible consortium members will receive a 65% subsidy on reoccurring connectivity fees and associated hardware.
The Pacific Northwest Healthcare Connect Consortium is unique in making a virtual learning network a key focus of its offering. Consortium leadership learned that the FCC views virtual learning networks as an eligible service for subsidization and saw a tremendous opportunity.
“Many of our members are rural hospitals and clinics, or higher education institutions with remote locations. Offering a secure virtual learning environment allows our members to access to the most up-to-date medical resources and training via a HIPAA-compliant network,” said Christian Calhoun, Project Coordinator of the Pacific Northwest Healthcare Connect Consortium. “Our members can use the secure network to access educational materials for themselves or their students anytime, anywhere.”
The secure network, provided by Virtual Care Works, also allows for telemedicine, remote monitoring and other technology-driven strategies.
Virtual Care Works’ Founder Steve Ward is excited about the partnership. “I’m thrilled to see our platform being used to overcome the challenge of distance and make virtual learning and telemedicine possible for Pacific Northwest Healthcare Connect Consortium members,” said Ward.
Current members span 7 states and include Pacific Northwest University and the University of Wyoming. The consortium is accepting new members and funding for 2014 is available.
About Virtual Care Works
Virtual Care Works (VCW) provides secure, “medical-grade” communications solutions for health care providers. The VCW platform includes tools to converse with colleagues and patients via videoconference, exchange medical data and images via secure email or text and collaborate across a secure, HIPAA-compliant network. Healthcare organizations of all types and size benefit from the safety and security VCW offers, and use the VCW platform to avoid the significant fines ($10k per violation, up to $1.5m annually) and penalties that come with mishandling health information. VCW partners with other industry leaders such as Dell, Juniper Networks, Level 3 Communications and Vidyo to provide their medical-grade communications platform. VCW has members nationwide and is headquartered outside of Denver, CO.