Essential federal funding is enabling Colorado to expand telehealth efforts and compliment Governor Bill Ritter's goal to expand broadband communications in the state.

The Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) was awarded a three year, $4.6 million dollar telehealth grant from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November 2007 to build a statewide fiber optic broadband network. According to Government Health IT, the grant will cover 85 percent of the costs associated with design, development, engineering and implementation of the network, as well as hardware and installation for hospitals and clinics. Additional funding has been provided by the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council in the amount of $9.8 million. The Colorado Health Foundation is funding administrative support services for the project which are not covered under the FCC grant. Further, a 15 percent match from participating providers will supplement the project.

Currently, 72 hospitals, 118 health clinics and 184 mental health centers have elected to participate in the initiative. The initiative is projected to be the largest healthcare telehealth network in the US.

The project is considered a sub-network, leveraging the existing enterprise Multi-Use Network which was launched in 2001 as a collaborative effort between the state government and Qwest Communications. The Multi-Use Network was a 10 year, $70 million investment spanning 64 county seats using a broadband, fiber-optic-based network. Qwest Communications has committed to upgrading the existing statewide network infrastructure and establishing a special tariff for the new Ethernet service. The plan is to sustain operations beyond the planned period of federal support and to migrate the new Ethernet service to a one-tier, flat rate statewide tariff. According to CHA's FCC application, "This will occur in concert with the state's rebidding of the base contract for Multi-Use Network telecommunications services. This contract, currently held by Qwest, will be re-competed for award on July 1, 2010."