FCC grant helps rural Tennessee hospitals upgrade IT.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press (12/4, Bregel) reports, "Rural and underserved hospitals in Tennessee and parts of Georgia expect to get greater access to healthcare with the help of a $2 million federal grant to Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga."  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grant will enable hospitals to install high-speed broadband Internet connections, facilitating "video conferencing and electronic transfer of digital X-rays and CT scans."  Furthermore, patients residing in remote areas could "be monitored by an Erlanger specialist who might physically visit a rural hospital once or twice a week."  The "grant is one of 69 awarded in the $417 million FCC pilot program, which aims to expand healthcare access through telehealth networks" throughout the country.