"In order to receive the benefits of telemedicine, electronic healthcare records and other healthcare benefits, health providers must have access to underlying broadband infrastructure," Martin said in a statement. "Without this underlying infrastructure, efforts to implement these advances in healthcare cannot succeed."

  Participating in the program are hospitals, clinics, universities and research centers, behavioral health sites, correctional facility clinics, and community health centers.

Martin announced the FCC's initiative last week at 7th meeting of the American Health Information Community, held in Chicago in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Medical Informatics Association.

"With the pilot program, the commission will be taking a major step toward the goal of connecting healthcare facilities across the nation with one another through broadband telehealth networks," he said.

The initiative can help advance the Nationwide Health Information Network. He estimated that, over the three-year life of the program, it would ultimately enable connections with about 6,000 healthcare providers.