Med Center Health announced the second of two USDA grants totaling $1,469,130 on Wednesday to bolster technology at rural hospitals and some outpatient and school-based clinics across southcentral Kentucky.

The grants are for technologies anticipated to bring numerous features to sites — among others, multifunctional televisions for real-time care coordination, AI-powered patient monitoring and enhanced telehealth sessions, according to Eric Hagan, MCH’s vice president of rural hospitals. The deployment of digital smart boards, telehealth platforms, cameras powered by artificial intelligence, and related clinical integrations will allow for these upgrades.

The second grant, $476,350 for Russellville, follows one worth $992,280 and — alongside a 15% MCH match — raises $1,690,630 for the technology at rural hospital locations across Russellville, Scottsville, Franklin, Horse Cave and Albany; they’ll also support the technologies at some outpatient and school-based clinics in in Logan and Todd counties.

The additions will help ensure MCH’s rural hospitals can access some of the same advanced technology and levels of care at some of the largest healthcare systems, including Mayo Clinic, Vanderbilt Health and Providence Health and Services, Hagan said. Rural hospitals, already faced with financial challenges, typically don’t have access to this technology — and Hagan said that without the grants, he’d be uncertain that MCH could deploy the technology within the next three to five years.

But because of the grants, MCH anticipates fully deploying the technology some six to seven months down the road. The process entails a statement of qualifications, a request for proposals and some additional back-and-forths about the project prior to the deployment, Hagan said.

The technology will feature a large television, a camera atop it, placed in patients’ rooms that additionally functions as a digital whiteboard accessible via a tablet outside the room, Hagan said. The whiteboard can help staff communicate with patients and provide real-time assessment updates.

“Its capabilities are almost endless,” Hagan said.

It will allow MCH to easily display different types of information and be updated in real time, allowing for more up-to-date information such as for medication scheduling, the day’s care team members, dietary restrictions, and activities doable with or without assistance.

The whiteboard can look different depending on who’s in a room, showing different information for the patient, physicians, nurses, social service staff and others, Hagan said.

The technology also better enables patients to share their updated medical records with their family or other physicians, he added. It can also allow patients in telehealth sessions with their physicians to pull in another person, such as a family member or care team member at another facility, he said.

It can also monitor a patient; for example, if a patient has a risk of falling, it can instruct through voice in their native language to call for assistance rather than try to get up alone, and send an alert to a patient’s care team based on their movements using AI. The technology will also have interpreter services that include sign language.

The camera can also analyze a person’s skin color, breathing and other characteristics while accounting for current labs, imaging and documentation to monitor if their condition is deteriorating, alerting a care team member if needed.

“I think you’ll see, as more people get familiar with it and know about it, they will probably go see care at places that have this technology, just because they want to make sure that all the care team members that need to be involved in a timely fashion are involved,” Hagan said.