Broadband connectivity is transforming America’s health care system, creating better, faster, and more cost-effective health care across the country. The sector represents almost 18 percent of the nation’s GDP, and increased efficiency has the power to lower costs, create better results for patients, and trigger economic growth.
At the January 31 Open Commission Meeting, Julius Knapp, Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology and Linda Oliver from the Wireline Competition Bureau delivered an update on the Commission’s work to support wireless and wireline connectivity for health, including the new Healthcare Connect Fund and the FCC’s ongoing work to expand spectrum access for wireless medical devices.
The FCC also hosted a telemedicine demonstration by the Georgia Partnership for Telehealth (GPT), which focuses on increasing access to health care through innovative use of technology. During the live demo, Dr. Debra Lister from Coffee Regional Medical Center, an FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program participant, conducted a simulated patient exam – allowing the audience in Washington, D.C. to hear the heartbeat of a patient in rural Bacon County, Georgia. Innovations like these mean that soon, geography won’t have to impede the delivery of quality health services.
Pictured Above: Les Evans of Georgia Partnership for Telehealth (GPT),shows Chin Yoo from the FCC’s Rural Health Care team, how a specialist in DC could hear a patient’s heartbeat in rural Georgia.
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