PEORIA, Ill. — A new program is expanding access to broadband internet services across Illinois.
Gov. J-B Pritzker was in Peoria Tuesday to tout the state’s partnership with OSF HealthCare to advance accessibility to telehealth services in rural Illinois.
“I believe that the best results most often come when our public and our private institutions are working together to serve as a platform for peoples’ success across the state,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said a four-year plan, Connect Illinois, is delivering internet and high-speed broadband services to areas of the state that have lacked access in the past.
Expanded broadband access now allows OSF HealthCare to provide rural healthcare professionals with more resources from larger hospitals like OSF Saint Francis Medical Center.
“We’re going to advance not only your ability to see video everywhere, and even in rurual areas that have no internet today, but the amazing kind of tele-presence that it requires to provide telehealth,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said with telehealth services, OSF HealthCare is ensuring that all communities have access to quality healthcare.
OSF HealthCare has provided 70,000 virtual clinical interactions for its patients since launching telehealth services last fall.
Saint James Hospital in Pontiac, Illinois is one of OSF HealthCare’s smaller hospitals that is using telehealth services to better serve its patients.
