The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving $489,085 to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia to help it expand a program that makes the services of specialists available in rural areas.
Georgia Blue, Atlanta, a unit of WellPoint Inc., Indianapolis, will be using the money to add videoconferencing systems and other telemedicine systems at 3 more patient “telemedicine sites,” increasing the total number of telemedicine sites to 51.
Georgia Blue also will be increasing the number of specialist sites to 94, from 89, and adding 2 teleradiology sites that patients can use to get distant radiologists to look at the results from X-rays and other medical imaging procedures.