Sponsor Statement for SCR 6

The Alaska Telemedicine Project is a pioneering program focused on improving the availability and delivery of health care in Alaska using telecommunications and other information technologies. The project involves a consortium of over 34 organizational members, including the University of Alaska, most major telecom providers, Native health corporations, and many regional health care facilities.

Now in its fourth year of operations, the Alaska Telemedicine Project continues towards its goals of assessing the health care needs of the state, demonstrating appropriate telehealth and telemedicine applications for Alaska, and analyzing these applications for cost, benefit, satisfaction, and use.

The methods used by the Alaska Telemedicine Project have been recognized as models for rural areas, developing nations, and all health providers. The recognition of the project as a leader in providing low-cost telemedicine applications has come from many entities such as the National Library of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Government of Romania.

In totality, the Alaska Telemedicine Project has accomplished all of its functions with independent grants and without dedicated state funding. Recently, the project was awarded a $2 million contract from the National Library of Medicine to assist the Alaska Native Health Board in providing rural health services. Senate Concurrent Resolution 6 would officially recognize these achievements of the Alaska Telemedicine Project and sanction it as the official telemedicine project of the state of Alaska