mr. wolters. dr. henderson. >> chairman cochran, chairman blunt ranking member murray and distinguished members of the subcommittee it is my pleasure to join you to today to discuss how telehealth is improving health care in rural communities. my name is kristi henderson and rural practitioner and serve as chief telehealth officer at university of mississippi at jackson. mississippi ranks bottom overall health obesity, heart disease, diabetes and preventable hospitalizations. more than half of mississippi's three million citizens live in a rural community and almost a quarter live at or below the federal poverty level. 2/3 of mississippi's hospitals are located in rural areas and lack sufficient resources and specialty care. but despite these facts, telehealth in our state is increasing access to health care and improving outcomes and lowering costs. the umnc center for telehealth began in 2003 with a teleemergency program connecting critical access hospital emergency departments to physicians at our

mr. wolters. dr. anderson? >> chairman cochran, chairman blunt, ranking member murray and distinguished members of the subcommittee, it's my pleasure to join you today to discuss how telehealth is improving health care in rural communities. my name is kristi henderson and i'm a nurse practitioner and serve at the university of mississippi medical center in jackson. mississippi ranks at the bottom for overall health, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and preventible hospitalizations. more than half of mississippi's three million citizens live in a rural community, and almost a quarter live at or below the federal poverty level. two-thirds of mississippi's hospitals are located in rural areas and lack sufficient resources in specialty care. but despite these facts, telehealth in our state is increasing access to health care and improving outcomes and lowering costs. the ummc center for telehealth began in 2003 with the tele-emergency program connecting critical access emergency to departments to physicians at our