New England Telehealth Consortium
Welcome
For NETC technical support, please contact the Network Operation Center.
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The most recent NETC Board of Directors meeting took place on December 15, 2020. For more information, email NETC.
In 2006 the FCC announced funding for what would be called the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP). This program was designed to create a nationwide broadband network of healthcare sites, subsidized at up to 85%. Over 500 healthcare sites throughout Northern New England came together in order to apply for the RHCPP. This signified the foundation of the New England Telehealth Consortium (NETC). In late 2007, NETC received its requested funding amount of approximately $24.6 million, representing the largest award of this type in the country. This funding is being used to build a sustainable broadband healthcare network, including Internet2 access, to greatly improve the capability and efficiency of healthcare in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
On January 25th, 2010, NETC received its first Funding Commitment Letter (FCL) as the official "green light" to move forward. Hitting the ground running, ProInfoNet, the company selected to design the NETC network, began the formal network design process. They surveyed all participating sites. ProInfoNet also conducted management interviews with each participating billing entity in order to collect information to customize the design of the network. The design was completed and approved by the NETC Board of Directors at its June 29, 2010 meeting.
As a result of the NETC RFPs from January 2011, The Board of Directors on June 29, 2011 selected the vendors to build and provide services for the NETC network. Vendors providing services and equipment to build the NETC network include: FairPoint, Oxford Networks, segTEL, Cogent, Internet2, Paetec, Cisco, and Hughesnet. ProInfoNet was selected to provide implementation management and network operations management. Contract negotiations were completed in September 2011. Since September 2011, NETC has been working with USAC to procure the "Funding Commitment Letters" required to release funds that will allow the NETC network can be built.
The FCC awarded a total of $417 million for the RHCPP. This amount included 69 statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks in 42 states and 3 US territories.
