Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Telepharmacy project receives additional funding
Sen. Byron Dorgan recently notified Charles Peterson, dean of pharmacy, nursing, and allied sciences, that NDSU’s North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has been approved for $813,535 in federal funding for fiscal year 2008. The grant will be funded through the Health Resources and Service Administration's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth.
The funding will be used for developing telepharmacy services to smaller, rural (critical access) hospitals across the state that are struggling to maintain pharmacists staffing and pharmacy services.
According to Peterson, current studies indicate 35 percent of rural hospitals have a pharmacist on site for less than 40 hours per week. Eight percent of hospitals have a pharmacist on site for two hours or less per week. One-third of rural hospitals with 0.5 full-time equivalent or less pharmacists staffing share a pharmacist with another hospital.
“As a result, many rural hospitals have limited pharmacist coverage, which greatly impacts their ability to deliver even the most basic pharmacy services,” said Peterson. “So, there is a critical need for telepharmacy services for remote rural critical access hospitals in North Dakota.”
The project was established in 2002 to restore, retain and establish access to pharmacist and pharmacy services in remote medically underserved rural communities of North Dakota. Peterson hopes to establish a national model for delivering telepharmacy services to remote rural hospitals that will make the state a national leader in delivery of pharmacy services to rural areas.
In early December, NDSU's telepharmacy was a featured program at the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists national convention in Las Vegas.
As of September 2007, there are 57 participating pharmacies in 33 medically underserved area counties, including two in Minnesota, serving a population of more than 40,000 rural citizens who previously had no access to a pharmacist or pharmacy services in their own community. The project has added more than 50 new jobs and approximately $12.5 million annually in economic development to the local rural economy. Thus far, the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has received more than $3.3 million to support its efforts.
For more information, contact Ann Rathke, telepharmacy coordinator, at 1-5863 or ann.rathke@ndsu.edu. David Scott, associate professor of pharmacy practice, is the co-principal investigator and can be reached at 1-5867 or david.scott@ndsu.edu.
Source
The funding will be used for developing telepharmacy services to smaller, rural (critical access) hospitals across the state that are struggling to maintain pharmacists staffing and pharmacy services.
According to Peterson, current studies indicate 35 percent of rural hospitals have a pharmacist on site for less than 40 hours per week. Eight percent of hospitals have a pharmacist on site for two hours or less per week. One-third of rural hospitals with 0.5 full-time equivalent or less pharmacists staffing share a pharmacist with another hospital.
“As a result, many rural hospitals have limited pharmacist coverage, which greatly impacts their ability to deliver even the most basic pharmacy services,” said Peterson. “So, there is a critical need for telepharmacy services for remote rural critical access hospitals in North Dakota.”
The project was established in 2002 to restore, retain and establish access to pharmacist and pharmacy services in remote medically underserved rural communities of North Dakota. Peterson hopes to establish a national model for delivering telepharmacy services to remote rural hospitals that will make the state a national leader in delivery of pharmacy services to rural areas.
In early December, NDSU's telepharmacy was a featured program at the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists national convention in Las Vegas.
As of September 2007, there are 57 participating pharmacies in 33 medically underserved area counties, including two in Minnesota, serving a population of more than 40,000 rural citizens who previously had no access to a pharmacist or pharmacy services in their own community. The project has added more than 50 new jobs and approximately $12.5 million annually in economic development to the local rural economy. Thus far, the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has received more than $3.3 million to support its efforts.
For more information, contact Ann Rathke, telepharmacy coordinator, at 1-5863 or ann.rathke@ndsu.edu. David Scott, associate professor of pharmacy practice, is the co-principal investigator and can be reached at 1-5867 or david.scott@ndsu.edu.
Source
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