Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) announced two grants today from USDA Rural Development that will fund the expansion of telehealth services in South Louisiana.
The first grant, totaling $272,900, will be issued to Lafayette General Health and will support the expansion of the South Louisiana Telehealth Network to include 18 public schools in Acadia Parish, eight public schools in Vermilion Parish, and two public schools in St. Martin Parish serving 27,000 students combined. It will also include three parish jails impacting 5,000 inmates.
The second grant, totaling $499,592, will be issued to Primary Care Providers and will support the development of a telemedicine network focused on behavioral health, specialty care, and opioid treatment in nine parishes statewide, including Acadia, Calcasieu, and Lafayette parishes. The project will provide mobile telehealth carts to six community health centers and 14 school-based health centers in rural communities across Louisiana.
Congressman Higgins issued the following statement:
“Traditionally, our rural communities have been underserved and with limited access to health care service providers. Innovative healthcare technologies like telemedicine provide patients with greater access to primary care services in their own communities. Telemedicine provides quality, timely care at a lower cost. We should encourage this type of innovation, and expanding access to these services is another win for South Louisiana.”
