NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS: December 4, 2009 Mark Wigfield: 202-418-0253 Email: Mark.Wigfield@fcc.gov OREGON HEALTH NETWORK REACHES MILESTONE IN UPGRADES FUNDED BY FCC’s RURAL HEALTH CARE PILOT PROGRAM Washington D.C. – The Oregon Health Network (OHN), one of the largest projects funded by the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Health Care Pilot Program, will mark an important milestone today as it launches its network operations center in a ceremony at the center in Beaverton, Oregon. OHN has a stated goal of bringing low-cost, high speed broadband to primary healthcare stakeholders in Oregon, potentially linking over 300 non-profit health care facilities, both urban and rural. The Pilot Program will provide up to $20.2 million in funding for the project. The launch of the network applications center (NOC) is an important milestone in the project, allowing centralized management and tracking of network quality and connections, and facilitating trouble shooting with telecommunications vendors on behalf of OHN participants. The NOC will improve the quality, reliability and functionality of the network by pulling together multiple service providers into a single, consistent network. For example, the NOC would enable a doctor in a Wallowa, Oregon hospital, participating in a video consultation with a doctor at the Oregon Health Science University, to quickly resolve any network problems with a single call to the NOC. “This project provides an important example of how assistance from the Rural Health Care Pilot Program can help provide the robust broadband networks needed for vital telemedicine services,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “These critical improvements in the Oregon Health Network will further broadband’s role in delivering the best possible health care to Oregonians, no matter where they live.” The FCC established the $417 million Pilot Program to increase patient access to care via telemedicine and support the transfer of electronic medical records, which will improve the quality of care for patients. Nationwide, 62 projects are eligible to receive Pilot Program funding for telehealth networks serving approximately 6,000 health care facilities in 42 states and three U.S. territories, using broadband technology to bring state-of the-art medical practices to isolated rural communities. At this time, 41 of these projects have either received funding commitments or developed requests for proposals to select vendors to build out their broadband networks, while the remaining continue to prepare their requests for proposals as part of the competitive bidding process. The ceremony and a live demonstration of the center will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PDT at EasyStreet Online Services, which is operating the NOC on behalf of OHN, at 9705 SW Sunshine Court, Beaverton, Oregon. -FCC- More information about the Rural Health Care Pilot Program can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp.html .