CHI Saint Joseph Health Receives More Than $400,000 for “Telehealth Solutions for Rural Kentucky”

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 20, 2022) – The CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations has received $403,191 from the Federal Communications Commission Telehealth COVID-19 Round Two Program. These funds will go toward scaling “Telehealth Solutions for Rural Kentucky” to 14 additional counties across the state and offering home health services to 658 patients in these counties. This project will improve access to higher levels of care and follow-up care for patients with COVID-19 or acute and chronic conditions in infectious disease, cardiology, pulmonology, and neurology through the use of advanced technology. 

With this additional funding, the project will now reach community members in Bourbon, Bullitt, Estill, Fayette, Garrard, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, Larue, Lincoln, Marion, Powell, Spencer and Washington counties.

“Telemedicine and home health are more important now than ever,” said Leslie Smart, CFRE, president, CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations. “We are proud to expand ‘Telehealth Solutions for Rural Kentucky’ to even more Kentucky counties and help establish high quality care in areas that may not have access to the care they need.”

CHI Saint Joseph Health’s “Telehealth Solutions for Rural Kentucky” was initiated by a $1,022,334 U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Kentucky grant received in early 2021. To continue and expand this project, CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations, in partnership with CHI Saint Joseph Health Medical Group and CommonSpirit Health at Home, received four grants totaling $1,074,828 from the USDA to fully scale the project. The other grant funding from the American Rescue Plan SHIP COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation Program went to the Saint Joseph Mount Sterling Foundation, the Saint Joseph Berea Foundation and the Flaget Memorial Hospital Foundation in Bardstown to scale the telehealth program surrounding those communities.

In total, CHI Saint Joseph Health’s “Telehealth Solutions for Rural Kentucky” will offer telehealth services to residents in 50 Kentucky counties and offer home health services to 3,090 patients in those counties.

About CHI Saint Joseph Health

CHI Saint Joseph Health, part of CommonSpirit Health, is one of the largest and most comprehensive health systems in the Commonwealth of Kentucky with 100 locations in 20 counties, including hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes, home health agencies and an ambulatory Care Center. The hospitals in CHI Saint Joseph Health are Flaget Memorial Hospital, Saint Joseph Berea, Saint Joseph East, Saint Joseph Hospital, Saint Joseph Jessamine, Saint Joseph London, Saint Joseph Mount Sterling, and Women’s Hospital at Saint Joseph East. In total, the health system serves patients in 35 counties statewide. CHI Saint Joseph Health is dedicated to providing a wide array of services toward a goal of building a healthier future for all. CHI Saint Joseph Health embodies a strong mission and faith-based heritage and works through local partnerships to expand access to care in the communities it serves.

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