Oneida-Lewis chapter of the Arc to use nearly $500K federal grant for telehealth program

UTICA, N.Y. — The Oneida-Lewis chapter of the Arc will use a federal grant of almost $500,000 to help develop its telehealth program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service will administer the grant totaling more than $474,000, the Arc, Oneida-Lewis said in a news release.

Its grant amount was the “second largest” awarded to a New York organization under the USDA program, per the release.

The USDA is awarding a total of $23.6 million to 72 organizations nationwide for the purchase of equipment that uses broadband to help rural communities connect to educational and health-care services.

NVITE is short for non-virtual individualized telehealth experience, the Arc, Oneida-Lewis said. Some of its “immediate benefits” include fewer emergency-room visits, along with “increased continuity, convenience, and efficiency.”

NVITE is a “HIPAA compliant, secure program,” using video-enabled telemedicine equipment to “transform health-care service delivery,” the release stated. HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the law that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.

The Arc in 2016 also received $960,000 in funding through the New York State Nonprofit Infrastructure Capital Investment Program (NICIP), which it has invested in project NVITE.

The Arc, Oneida-Lewis says it is a nonprofit human-services agency that provides advocacy and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Oneida and Lewis counties.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com