New Hampshire has announced more than $11 million in awards intended to strengthen rural emergency medical services and establish or expand community-based medical programs.
The governor's office announced the funding Oct. 22 through GO-NORTH, the state office overseeing a five-year federal rural-health program. The Foundation for Healthy Communities administered the competitive awards and was notifying recipients that week.
The announcement identifies a planned North Country Mobile Integrated Health program serving the area from Berlin to Pittsburg, in partnership with Milan and Dummer ambulance. It also lists programs in the Littleton-Lisbon area, Upper Valley, Lakes Region, Monadnock and Keene region, and Capital Area.
Mobile Integrated Health brings medical care outside a hospital through mobile teams working with other health providers. That is how the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services describes the model. The announcement does not describe one uniform service available in every region, list patient eligibility or provide a common launch date.
Other awards are intended to help municipalities, EMS agencies and rural hospitals sustain emergency medical services. The state identifies workforce shortages, rising call volumes and financial pressure among the problems the grants are meant to address.
The broader rural-health program received about $204 million for its first year from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The more than $11 million in this announcement is part of that larger program, rather than an additional statewide award of the same size.
The governor's release does not provide individual recipient amounts. The release does not say which services each community will receive or when they will start.