Monthly Archives: February 2011

Electronic Health Record Loan Program applications now available

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I thought this might be helpful to any healthcare professionals out there…

The Minnesota Department of Health-Office of Rural Health and Primary Care administers an electronic health record (EHR) loan program to help finance the implementation or support of interoperable EHR systems. Loan funds are primarily intended for EHR software, hardware, training and support expenses.

Loans are six-year, no-interest with the first year’s repayment deferred. Eligible entities: federally qualified health centers; community clinics; nonprofit or local units of government hospitals; individual or small group physician practices that are primarily focused on primary care; nursing facilities and local public health departments.

Note: Priority will be given to the following applicants: critical access hospitals; federally qualified health centers; entities that serve uninsured, underinsured and medically underserved individuals (urban or rural); and individual or small group practices that are primarily focused on primary care. The commissioner has the authority to approve other providers of health or health care services when interoperable electronic health record capability would improve quality of care, patient safety or community health.

Estimated funds available: $1,000,000
Estimated number of approved loans: 4-8
Estimated award range: $50,000 – $250,000

It doesn’t look like it pays for the broadband necessarily – but it would help with other aspects of EHR implementation. Applications are due April 1

Connect Minnesota maps tell a story

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Earlier this week the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a story about the Connect Minnesota maps calling out their flaws…

The report acknowledges that “statewide estimates do not necessarily reflect the reality faced by each Minnesota community.” In addition, Commerce Department commissioner Mike Rothman described the report in modest terms: “This data provides a baseline and is a first step in an ongoing process.”

But critics go further and say that the report’s speed claims are way off.

This issue is that the maps indicate that 94 percent of Minnesota households have access to broadband (as defined by 3 Mbps) and folks disagree with that assessment.

Geoff Daily wrote an article earlier this week on the National Broadband Maps ($300 Million And All I Got Was This Lousy Broadband Map). Some of his points are compelling and seem to reflect issues brought up by the Star Tribune. He remarked, “In terms of the data itself, it’s hard not to feel like it’s really incomplete and somewhat inaccurate.”

I don’t really disagree with either accusation on the accuracy. There has been concerns all along with the fact that Connect Minnesota gets its data from the providers – but so far I haven’t heard of a better, realistic way to do it. So for this year, I think we have the best maps we could realistically get and the maps are definitely accurate enough to highlight underserved areas.

Moving forward, I think it’s up to us to help make the maps better by testing the speeds ourselves and reporting in. From what I have seen, Connect Minnesota is very responsive when users have voiced specific issues with the maps.

Perhaps the other issue is the perceived value of the statewide percentage of household availability. Looking at the maps that track household broadband availability by county gives a better picture of the issues in Minnesota. The Twin Cities (which includes a great percentage of households in the state) is covered 95-100 percent according the map (included here). Counties such as Cook, Aitkin, Mahnomen, Redwood, Lincoln, Pipestone and Rock are hovering around 40-60% coverage. That tells the story.

Communities have been able to pick up that story, learn from it and are using it to urge action. Redwood County is one example. In that way, Connect Minnesota has done a great job. Their maps are getting people talking about broadband, understanding the implications of broadband and reacting to improve their standing. That’s valuable.

One caveat is that in Minnesota, these maps should be used to track our progress towards our goal of ubiquity. I think the maps do provide a disservice if there’s a chance that someone is going to say that 94 percent is good enough.

Another turn for Lake County

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Thanks to Stimulating Broadband for the heads up on this one…

Mediacom Asks USDA Inspector General for Federal Probe of Lake County, MN Broadband Award

This afternoon StimulatingBroadband.com published a story disclosing the first public filing of a complaint to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture relating to a broadband stimulus awarded project.

The filing was made by Mediacom Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: MCCC) against Lake County, Minnesota, relative to the County’s application for and receipt of a $66.5 million grant / loan package issued in August 2010 by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The plot thickens. The article points to potential Lake County’s issues with National Public Broadband and include a link to the Mediacom complaint.

The road to community broadband networks is not easy. We saw that with Monticello. That’s not to dismiss the charges.

Lake County moves forward with fiber plan

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We got a sneak preview of this news at the TISP meeting last week. After running into a hiccup with the ARRA-funded broadband deployment project, the Duluth News Tribune reports…

The Lake County Board of Commissioners wasted no time in hiring a new management team for its fiber-to-home telecommunications network.

On Tuesday, the board hired Jeff Roiland as the project manager. He is from Willmar, Minn., and ran that city’s En-Tel Communications network. He will be assisted by Gene South, the longtime CEO of Lakedale Communications in Annandale, which covered a wide swath of communities in west central Minnesota south of St. Cloud.

It sounds as if Board heard from a few hopefuls approach them once the need was annouced but that these guys were the best fit. Both attended the TISP meeting last week.

Redwood County helps hone broadband maps

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I was happy to hear from Brent Legg at Connected Nation about updated broadband maps for Redwood County. At our first countywide broadband meeting, I showed the maps to a large group of providers and community leaders. Having the maps is a great advantage so that any discussion can be based on quality information.

Due to some changes in ownership of telephone exchanges, the maps were not completely accurate. Julie Rath, Redwood Area Economic Developer worked with Brent Legg and the affected provider to get up to date information submitted. We are looking forward to seeing the revised maps!

Fiber Meeting in Dawson February 24

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The ARRA-funded projects are starting to pop up in the forms of networks – or at least promotion for networks – and the latest evidence is a community meeting is planned for later this week in Dawson. According to the Lac qui Parle EDA web site…

Residents in Lac qui Parle County will soon be able to receive the benefits of fiber optics. This will allow residents to subscribe to Phone, Cable TV and High Speed Internet services from Farmers Mutual. This Open House event will provide information on these options to residents of the area. Everyone is encouraged to attend!

Fiber Optic Network Meeting
Thursday, February 24, 2011
OPEN HOUSE 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Dawson City Hall
Dawson, Minnesota

 

More on SMBS’ plan to add wireless to their FTTH network

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Last week I got to speak with John Schultz from U-reka Broadband about Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services and their plans to add wireless to their FTTH network in Southwest Minnesota. I think it’s a great example of where a community wasn’t asked to choose between the two but recognized the inherent strengths in each platform. You can hear how it came about, what it will mean to the communities served and advice for others thinking about how to provide broadband access.

I have to pull out one of the highlights. John points out the advantaged of adding wireless. In the short term wireless is a good way to provide service to hard to reach areas; in the long term it will offer mobility, which opens the door to more applications especially for folks who are in the field.

And by “in the field” we mean literally in the field. I found a fun article written by a dairy farmer (in California) that highlights the top mobile Apps for Farmers. Truthfully most of the apps would be helpful to anyone, which sort of makes the case that most of us are in the field at least part of our day.

Carver County Fiber Construction RFB

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Last fall, Carver County got the good news on their ARRA application – they received almost $6 million to build a fiber optic ring. According to their web site…

The fiber ring will be nearly 89 miles long, run directly through all 11 cities in the county, and have an additional 32 miles of lateral connections connecting over 80 public partners. These partners represent city, county and township governments, fire departments, schools, public safety towers and law enforcement agencies as well as a regional healthcare center.

The ring is an open network, which will enable private service providers to offer broadband services on this network to homes and businesses.

The project seems to be rolling along. Last week, they issued a request for bid for the construction portion of the project. For folks who might be interested they are offering a few training/demonstration events in the next few weeks that will help. The bids are due April 5, 2011.

The Carver County Fiber web site is a wealth of information! There was one paragraph that caught my eye…

Carver County currently spends about $290,000 a year to lease T1 copper lines and will result in a 5 year payback relative to the $1.5 million in county match funds. Once the ring is complete, Carver County will realize a reduction in annual expenses and contain future costs.

Last week at the TISP meeting we heard from three counties who are working on countywide broadband. Hard numbers, like the cost of T1 lines, help me put in perspective the definition of profitable. Sometime it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save!

National Broadband Map unveiled

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The National Broadband Maps were unveiled yesterday. I attended a “blogger briefing” webinar on the new maps. Ironically, the site server was so overwhelmed we couldn’t see all of the features. But I’m going to take that as good news; it means a lot of people were interested enough to check it out.

I think most folks will be interested in the interactive maps. You can look up your address and see the providers in your area (wired and wireless), see the average speeds advertised and maps of the area.

You can use the maps to take a look at access at a community level – down to the census block. The maps help to make information very easy to take in. Connected Nation has played a big role in developing the maps, having them work on the Minnesota maps has given us a sneak preview of what to expect.

I think there’s potential in the ranking features too. A good way to get started is to try to create the most complex report you can – that will help you figure out what all of the search options are. (Maybe I’m slow but I didn’t quite get the depth of options when I ran my first few overly simple reports.) You can look at speeds, technology (cable, wireless, DSL FTTH…), number of providers and various demographic characteristics. And you can cross tabulate results.

There are some popular reports to check out, including Broadband Availability in Urban vs. Rural Areas and Areas with No Broadband Availability. My only issue with these pre-packaged reports is that broadband is defined my 768 kbps, which is how the NTIA has defined broadband. But in my opinion, that’s too slow to be of use.

There was a peculiar comment made during the blogger webinar. I had asked about the definition of broadband and one of the speakers pointed out that while 768 k may seem slow in the cities, that for rural areas without access, 768 k probably seems OK.

That’s part of the reason I don’t like the slower definition. If 768 k is too slow in the city, it’s too slow throughout the country. If anything, bandwidth is even more important in areas that are geographically set apart. A remote doctor’s visit is a convenience to me in St Paul; it can be a life saver in a more remote area. When the government approves of the slower definition of broadband or in the case of the National Broadband Plan offers two tiers of access, it makes it OK for everyone to set up dual expectations.

Preview of County-Wide FTTH Projects in Minnesota

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It was a full room for this month’s TISP meeting. There were folks from local governments, broadband providers, law offices, media resources, students and more. As Milda Hedblom pointed out in her introduction county network is a powerful resource.

We got a nice look at how counties have and are working to bring broadband to their area. I tried to take good notes…

COOK COUNTY/ARROWHEAD ELECTRIC PROJECT – Danna MacKenzie, Cook County IT Director Continue reading →

Southwest MN FTTP project gets new logo

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Yesterday I was discouraged by the news that Wisconsin was returning their ARRA funding. Such a wasted opportunity no matter how you look at it. Today I’m encouraged by an ARRA-funded project in Minnesota that seems to be going much better.

Last week I reported that Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) is adding wireless to their box of tricks. That’s been big news and I’m hoping to speak to them more about that soon. Today’s news is much smaller, but makes the point that sometimes it’s the little things that matter.

SMBS recently unveiled their new logo. It was designed by high school student, David Reyes from Southwest Star Concept High School in Okabena. It’s no accident that the designer was a high school student. SMBS held a logo design contest open to area middle and high school students. The winner not only receives the accolades and a bullet point on a résumé, he also received an iPad. According to the Jackson County Pilot, there were about 50 submissions.

This is the logo that SMBS will use to market their upcoming FTTH services. It’s fantastic that they were will able to use community resources and build some community capacity and pride along the way.

Wisconsin gives back broadband stimulus funds

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According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel…

[Wisconsin] State officials are returning $23 million to the federal government, saying there were too many strings attached to stimulus money that was supposed to be for expanding high-speed Internet service in schools, libraries and government agencies.

I’m not sure what to say – or what not to say here but I wanted to say something if only to say – wasn’t the plan (the National Broadband Plan) to work towards more partnerships? Partnership being public-private, but also maybe better public-public partnerships. It sounds as if AT&T plays into this relationship and decision as well – so it may be fair to call this a public-private partnership.

Some think the issue is that the relationship between the State and AT&T is too close. Some think the hoops required for federal funding are too onerous. I suspect there’s at least a little truth in both camps. Regardless – I have to ask who wins when something like this happens? And who loses? And what’s the price?

I offer a peculiar antidote to the situation in Wisconsin. I watched a great TED talk by Jonathan Zittrain today. He talks about the “Web as Random Acts of Kindness”, starting with the inception of the web. It just seems like if we want to become world leaders again (and again that was a goal of the National Broadband Plan) we have to strive for more than the best business deal.

Technology a key in government innovation

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Grand Rapids was recently featured in a story on Minnesota Public Radio highlighting their progress towards less money, more innovation. Grand Rapids (home to the Blandin Foundation) has done a good job of keeping government costs low as their budget has changed. They’ve done interesting things with insurance and even HR, encouraging retirements over layoffs – but  the technology fixes really caught my eye…

It’s [the city government] switched to electronic time cards and payroll management. A software program called Cityworks keeps track of potholes that need to be filled and other public works tasks.

And rather than printing hundreds of pages of information before each city council meeting, clerks and council members check into an online system called Legistar.

The results…

What used to take a day now takes about an hour.

“It saves us a half a person,” he says. “We’re shifting the paradigm a bit.”

What helped make it possible?

It helps that the staff and citizens in Grand Rapids, a city of around 10,000, are tech savvy, with fiber optic cable running to each and every doorstep.

Having neighbors such as the Blanidn Foundation makes Grand Rapids unique. Maybe it helps them risk innovation – but now that the results are in, other communities might be able to also face the risk with a greater comfort level. Grand Rapids are leaders in a trend that can save us time and money down the road.

Broadband boosts home values

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The study comes out of the UK – but I suspect the same would be found true here as well. MyBroadband News reports…

The results from 733 respondents to ISPreview.co.uk’s latest survey have revealed that the availability of good broadband internet access really can add value to your home

The study found that almost two thirds (69%) of UK internet users would be put off from buying a beautiful new house if it lacked a fast broadband connection and half (50%) would pay more for a house with faster connectivity than they currently owned.

Something to consider at a residential level – but also worth noting on a communtiy level. No one wants to live in a town (never mind move to a town) with inadequate broadband.

FTTH project expands to wireless options in SW Minnesota

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I just got back from the Blandin Broadband Strategy Board meeting. That is a room full of smart folks. Because of the nature of the meeting, I don’t take the transcription-type notes I take for public meetings but it really colors the lens I use for looking at broadband. Hearing about what’s happening in different areas is an opportunity to recognize trends born of technology, policy and community/consumer need.

Today there was a lot of talk about wireless. From the top, the National Broadband Plan really set out to promote the US as a wireless leader and innovator and we’re seeing that pushed more directly from President Obama. On the ground, people want wireless access. They want their smart phones to work, they’re anxious for 4G. Wireless doesn’t have the speed or capacity that fiber has, but it’s got mobility.

After the discussion, I found the following press release waiting for me on a local project that is heading to a one-two punch of fiber and wireless. It’s nice to see the planner and practitioners so close on trends…

Eight Rural Communities Sign Agreement to Extend Fiber Broadband Internet Service to Wireless and Mobile Users

St. Paul MN: February 11, 2011: LocaLoop, Inc., an innovator in providing affordable wireless broadband Internet service to remote users, will implement a 4G WiMAX network along the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) 125 mile fiber ring serving eight rural communities in southwestern Minnesota.

LocaLoop is creating an operating company that will share net profit before taxes with SMBS in exchange for local services, under terms of an agreement signed yesterday at the scheduled monthly meeting of the SMBS board. SMBS is a non profit corporation established last year to bring Broadband Internet service via optical fiber to the towns of Lakefield, Jackson, Round Lake, Bingham Lake, Brewster, Wilder, Heron Lake and Okabena.

“This agreement is the next logical step, after a year of planning and preparation, in bringing Broadband Internet service to our communities beyond the fiber’s economical reach,” said Keith Stubbe, SMBS Chairman. “The partnership with LocaLoop will benefit all residents wired and wireless, in the SMBS service area, as we bring this 21st century technology to rural Minnesota.”

Learn more about the project from the SMBS web site.