116 STAT. 1636 PUBLIC LAW 107-251—OCT. 26, 2002 "(ii) patient or family education; "(iii) health care professional education; and "(iv) rural residency support programs, "( j) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS. — "(1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under this section, the Director shall ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that such grants are equitably distributed among the geographical regions of the United States. "(2) TELEHEALTH NETWORKS.—In awarding grants under subsection (d)(1) for a fiscal year, the Director shall ensure that— "(A) not less than 50 percent of the funds awarded shall be awarded for projects in rural areas; and "(B) the total amount of funds awarded for such projects for that fiscal year shall be not less than the total amount of funds awarded for such projects for fiscal year 2001 under section 330A (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of the Health Care Safety Net Amendments of 2002). "(k) USE OF FUNDS. — "(1) TELEHEALTH NETWORK PROGRAM.—The recipient of a grant under subsection (d)(1) may use funds received through such grant for salaries, equipment, and operating or other costs, including the cost of— "(A) developing and delivering clinical telehealth services that enhance access to community-based health care services in rural areas, frontier communities, or medically underserved areas, or for medically underserved populations; "(B) developing and acquiring, through lease or purchase, computer hardware and software, audio and video equipment, computer network equipment, interactive equipment, data terminal equipment, and other equipment that furthers the objectives of the telehealth network grant program; " (C)(i) developing and providing distance education, in a manner that enhances access to care in rural areas, frontier communities, or medically underserved areas, or for medically underserved populations; or "(ii) mentoring, precepting, or supervising health care providers and students seeking to become health care providers, in a manner that enhances access to care in the areas and communities, or for the populations, described in clause (i); "(D) developing and acquiring instructional programming; "(E)(i) providing for transmission of medical data, and maintenance of equipment; and "(ii) providing for compensation (including travel expenses) of specialists, and referring health care providers, who are providing telehealth services through the telehealth network, if no third party payment is available for the telehealth services delivered through the telehealth network; "(F) developing projects to use telehealth technology to facilitate collaboration between health care providers;
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