Lack of broadband limits telemedicine in rural areas

With a computer tablet from the Center for Telehealth at the University of Mississippi, health care providers regularly monitored a rural diabetes patient’s condition. But when the patient needed to transmit data to the doctors at the center, things got complicated. “He had to get in his car and drive to the top of the hill so he could make sure he had clear communication,” said Michael Adcock, the center’s executive director. “That’s not something he should have to do. He was passionate about the program and wanted to improve his health. There’s got to be a better way.”  The reality, unfortunately, is that many sick people who could most benefit from digital health care don’t have access to it.That’s illustrated through a project undertaken by an FCC task force called Connect2Health. Last year, in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it launched an interactive tool that enables users to see the level of broadband availability in individual counties, along with rates of obesity, diabetes and access to physicians.It’s not a pretty picture. It’s more of a worst-case scenario.“One thing the task force maps show is that there are too many counties in this nation that we call double-burdened,” said FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. “These are counties with the worst access to primary care physicians, and also the least connected when it comes to broadband.”