Telecommunication Partnerships Create Patient and Provider Savings

Development Authority of the North Country awarded a contract to bolster the existing telehealth network

Patients and providers across the North Country are saving money and improving their health through telehealth services enabled by unique partnerships among multiple agencies and local service providers.  

Like a circulating web across the region, a telehealth communication network has facilitated savings for both medical providers and patients while continuing to grow and expand, increasing broadband access to rural communities.  

Through its unique partnership with the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC), Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization’s (FDRHPO) North Country Telehealth Partnership (NCTP) has leveraged the FCC’s Healthcare Connect Fund (HCF) to enhance access to telehealth services in the North Country. The HCF is a federal program that provides funding for high-capacity broadband connectivity. Through its most recent Request for Proposal process, DANC was awarded the HCF contract in fiscal year 2025 to continue developing the telecommunication network, which increases both intranet (i.e., private and secure connections between healthcare providers) and public Internet access speeds for healthcare providers.

“As an organization dedicated to providing essential services to North Country communities, the Development Authority is proud to have partnered with FDRHPO since the inception of the telemedicine network to provide the infrastructure that enables these critical healthcare services,” said David Wolf, DANC’s Director of Telecommunications. “The telemedicine network allows healthcare providers to quickly and efficiently provide care to our rural northern New York communities.”

Work began in early 2009 when FDRHPO established the North Country Telemedicine Project (NCTP), an extensive fiber-optic network connecting more than 25 healthcare facilities in Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga, and St. Lawrence counties, including Fort Drum's Guthrie Ambulatory Healthcare Clinic. In 2011, FDRHPO partnered with the Adirondack-Champlain Telemedicine Information Network (ACTION) to create a second network that encompasses sites in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties, along with Chittenden County in Vermont.  

In 2015, FDRHPO initiated a collaboration with the Adirondack Health Institute (AHI) to form the North Country Telehealth Partnership — a unified effort to plan and implement telemedicine throughout the 12-county catchment area, covering northern and central New York. This collaboration has quickly become Northern New York’s leading group focused on increasing access to healthcare through the innovative use of telehealth and telemedicine technology.  

“Before the build-out of the two Northern New York Telemedicine fiber networks, most primary healthcare facilities had a maximum network speed of 56 Kbps,” said Robert Hunt, Fiber Network Manager and Telemedicine Program Coordinator for FDRHPO. “To transfer the file images would have taken approximately 40 hours for a CT scan. That’s just the time it takes to transfer the image to the specialist.”

Today, most primary care facilities have at least 100 Mbps, and a significant number of them have 1 Gbps network speeds. 

“At 100 Mbps, that CT scan of the heart takes one minute and 20 seconds. At 1 Gbps, the same CT scan takes 8 seconds,” said Mr. Hunt.

In addition to increased speed and access, the work accomplished by FDRHPO through the FCC’s HCF has provided significant cost savings for the region.

Since 2010, FDRHPO has coordinated more than $20.5 million in savings – a 76% discount – for local providers to access the two expansive fiber-optic networks (NCTP and ACTION).

“Currently, FCC’s HCF pays 65% of the total monthly recurring cost of the service,” Mr. Hunt explained. “So, for example, a service that typically costs $1,000 per month only costs the primary care provider $350. Money that would have been spent on paying for the network service can now be applied to other urgently needed services.”

FDRHPO continuously explores ways and leverages resources to increase access to healthcare accessibility and cost savings through strong partnerships with regional hospitals, healthcare providers, and organizations to create a patient-centered model for health.

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