Construction has begun on the fiber optic connection to the Iowa Rural Health Telecommunications Program (IRHTP) network for IHA. The work is part of the IHA –coordinated network that is connecting dozens of hospitals all over the state. 

The Iowa Rural Health Telecommunications Program (IRHTP) is a joint effort consisting of a consortium of more than 80 Iowa rural and urban hospitals, IHA and the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) with the purpose to connect Iowa hospitals to a dedicated broadband fiber network using existing ICN infrastructure. 

The fiber build-out provides “last mile” fiber connection for the hospitals, Radiology Consultants of Iowa, Iowa Radiology and IHA to the closest appropriate ICN point of presence. 

With the fiber build-out complete for 12 IRHTP hospitals, another 17 in progress and another 10 connected by indefeasible right of use contracts (a 20-year lease of two strands of fiber), the build out of the IRHTP network is well underway.  Once the electronic network core is tested and operational the hospital end point electronics will be installed and tested to complete the connection to the IRHTP network. 

What does connecting to a fiber optic network mean for Iowa hospitals?  The primary benefit is being able to quickly transfer massive amounts of data to and from the hospital.  This ability is especially valuable in the area of medical imaging; high-resolution x-rays, CT, MRI and PET scans create very large files that are slow to transfer and have a tendency to “bog down” typical networks.  But with fiber-based networks, these images can be shared quickly and efficiently, a crucial tool for hospitals that need images analyzed by a radiologists in other locations. 

Fiber technology also offers opportunities to use “tele-health” to connect individual health care professionals and patients.  This technology is already being used to connect remote sessions between mental health professionals and patients, making it an important tool for states like Iowa, which has a severe shortage of psychiatrists.

For IHA, the broadband network holds the promise of bringing together hospital leaders and staff from all over the state without requiring travel, increasing IHA’s ability to provide education and information to Iowa’s hospitals and their 74,000 employees. It will also provide more efficient data transmission between IHA and hospitals, an important function as IHA continues to be the hub for a growing collection of hospital-based data in Iowa.