View Larger Image The South Central Telehealth Resource Center, housed at UAMS, has received a three-year grant for $975,000 to fund the expansion of digital health services in rural communities with known health disparities across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The South Central Telehealth Resource Center, housed at UAMS, has received a three-year grant for $975,000 to fund the expansion of digital health services in rural communities with known health disparities across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

UAMS’ South Central Telehealth Resource Center Secures $975,000 Grant to Expand Digital Health Services

By Karmen Robinson

| LITTLE ROCK — The South Central Telehealth Resource Center, housed at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, received a three-year grant for $975,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The grant, renewed to UAMS for the seventh time, will fund the expansion of digital health services in rural communities with known health disparities across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

HRSA awarded more than $13.6 million to the National & Regional Telehealth Resource Centers for the three-year grant period as part of an initiative to expand digital health nationwide and improve health in underserved communities.

“Many diseases are preventable, and illnesses can be detected early when our communities have access to quality health care and health education through digital health,” said Hari Eswaran, Ph.D., the center’s director.

The South Central Telehealth Resource Center is part of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers and is one of 12 regional telehealth resource centers in the consortium.

Funded for the past 10 years, the South Central Telehealth Resource Center uses evidence-based best practices to support and expand the integration of digital health services in educational settings and health care organizations.

The center also provides professional training, assistance and equipment to improve the delivery of digital health services throughout the three-state region.

“Expanding and enhancing digital health services can significantly reduce and eventually dissolve barriers in health care – such as distance to facilities, transportation availability and reliable educational resources – that most often affect medically underserved and vulnerable populations,” said Eswaran.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

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