Lakelands Rural Health Network Receives Grant Totaling over $1.5 Million

Posted by admin on October 23, 2007 under News | 2 Comments to Read

By: GoLaurens.com

Updated: October 23, 2007 11:20 PM
The Lakelands Rural Health Network will receive a much anticipated check from the South Carolina Office of Rural Health on Wednesday, October 24th at 5 PM. Dr. Graham Adams, Executive Director of the SC Office of Rural Health, will present the Lakelands Rural Health Network with a check totaling over $1.5 million from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the US Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA is dedicated to supporting comprehensive and quality health care systems throughout the United States.
The Lakelands Rural Health Network partner organizations include Abbeville Area Medical Center, Edgefield County Hospital, Carolina Health Centers, Inc., DHEC Region 1, Laurens County Health Care System, Montgomery Center for Family Medicine, Self Regional Healthcare, The Self Family Foundation, and the South Carolina Office of Rural Health. The grant provides the necessary funding and technical resources for the Lakelands Rural Health Network, and its partners, South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics (ORS) and CareEvolution, to expand a regional health information exchange and quality improvement initiative in the rural Lakelands area of South Carolina, covering six counties and over 2400 square miles.
The Network’s two critical access hospitals, Abbeville Area Medical Center and Edgefield County Hospital, will each receive designated grant funds for technology infrastructure. The project promises to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care in the Lakelands service area through health information sharing. It will have compelling impact in the areas of quality and continuity of patient care, clinical workflow and productivity, interoperability, efficiency and consumer healthcare.
Mr. Rich D’Alberto, CEO of Laurens County Health Care System and Chair of the Lakelands Rural Health Network Board of Trustees commented “the progress made by the Lakelands Rural Health Network has been impressive, as a direct result of the positive impacts made when healthcare providers partner for the same reason. These grant funds will assist the Network to achieve goals that expand health care quality, accessibility and affordability for our citizens”.
About Lakelands Rural Health Network (LRHN) LRHN is a nonprofit, multi-county health network developed in 2004, to achieve efficiencies, expand access, coordinate and improve the quality of essential health care services, and strengthen the rural health care system as a whole.
About South Carolina Office of Rural Health (SCORH) The South Carolina Office of Rural Health (SCORH), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was established in 1991 to improve the health status of rural and underserved people throughout the state.