FCC Adopts Pilot Program to Encourage Telemedicine
The FCC Tues. approved a pilot program to connect health care providers to broadband networks, facilitating use of telemedicine to treat patients. The program will be financed by the Rural Health Care Fund (RHCF), an underutilized universal service program. The new program will be open to all nonprofit and public health providers, but will be particularly beneficial to those in rural areas, the FCC said. “People in rural and remote parts of our country… will benefit from the access to specialists and research that, until recently, was often only available in urban centers,” said FCC Comr. Tate.
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Under the 2-year pilot, health providers will get money to “aggregate their needs” and build state and regional broadband networks linked to Internet2, a dedicated backbone connecting govt. research facilities and health institutions, the FCC said. It will pay up to 85% of the cost of building state and regional networks and linking them to the national backbone. Pilot funding will be capped at the difference between what’s committed to existing RHCF users and $100 million.
The RCHF gets $400 million annually for telemedicine applications, but only about 10% is used, FCC Chmn. Martin said. By developing regional and state networks, providers will be more able to use telemedicine, he said. The spending cap will “make sure that rural health care provider telecommunications needs under the existing program are given priority,” Martin said.
Funding broadband networks to spur telemedicine is an “innovative use” of RHCF, FCC Comr. Copps said: “The need for new thinking in this area is clear.” Copps and others called the program a test to see if channeling money to broadband networks is the best way to stimulate telemedicine. The FCC will report on its efforts the past decade to encourage rural telemedicine, to “advise Congress and others of… what has worked well [and] where legislative or administrative improvements may be needed,” Copps said.
The pilot could “give us critical information about the needs of health care providers and the resources required to establish connectivity,” FCC Comr. Adelstein said. He would have preferred that the program more directly target rural providers, he said: “While I appreciate my colleagues’ willingness to amend the criteria to give weight to applications that serve rural areas, this order could do more to explicitly prioritize projects that target services to rural areas.” Had comments been sought “on whether to create a pilot program and how to tailor it, we likely would have greater clarity and transparency here but, unfortunately, that is not the case,” he said.