The University of Missouri School of Medicine has secured nearly $4 million through a federal grant to help with a new national-level center for telehealth research. The center, which officially launched on Sept. 1, aims to help improve access to care, and cut costs for patients in rural communities, according to a news release from the university.

the center will analyze data from all over the country, and is one of two new federally funded centers nationwide along with the University of Iowa.

MU will work alongside the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Michigan State University to make sure the findings are generalizable to all rural areas, according to the university.

Telehealth can be especially useful in Missouri, where rural families often face long drives and shortages of specialists.

MU patients already benefit from programs like remote monitoring and through the Show-Me ECHO project, which connects rural providers with specialists.