Congressional Telehealth Caucus Co-chair Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and four other caucus members jointly filed the Protecting Access to Post-Covid-19 Telehealth Act Thursday to make permanent Congress’ temporary lifting of some telehealth restrictions during the pandemic. Lawmakers lifted some limits on telehealth eligibility for Medicare, among other rules, in March via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and other laws (see 2003250046). Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is among the lawmakers who backed making those rule changes permanent rather than letting them expire at the end of the pandemic (see 2006170065). “Telehealth is a proven and cost-effective way to get care out to patients, particularly during a crisis,” Thompson said. “Many patients who need routine care have been using telehealth to see their doctors without increasing the risk of spreading Coronavirus and many face an abrupt end to this practice after the crisis is over.” Co-sponsors include CTC co-Chairs Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio; David Schweikert, R-Ariz.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt. Caucus member House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is also a co-sponsor. American Telemedicine Association CEO Ann Mond Johnson said the bill would “keep patients and healthcare providers from falling off the telehealth ‘cliff.’”
Approval of a different cable leased access rate structure went awry Thursday with a brief administrative law crisis. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel questioned whether the item -- with two approvals and three concurring votes -- had actually been adopted. Administrative law experts told us it's a novel issue. Chairman Ajit Pai and acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle said it counts as adopted.
Though pandemic “consequences” remain a challenge for the global economy, TomTom revenue is “on the road to recovery from the lows that we experienced in April,” said CEO Harold Goddijn on a Q2 investor call Wednesday. The GPS and mapping device supplier had “a very good upward trend in the second half of the quarter, both for automotive and for retail products,” he said. The June 30 quarter started with “factory and retail closures impacting trading conditions for automotive and consumer,” said Chief Financial Officer Taco Titulaer. The quarter got progressively better with the reopening of automotive factories and “the return to retail activity,” he said. “June was by far the strongest month and contributed about half of the quarter's operational revenue,” though it was down 47% from a year earlier, he said.
The content industry even before the COVID-19 pandemic was “moving towards software-based systems, virtualization, cloud” and IP, Michael Koetter, WarnerMedia senior vice president-technology strategy, told an SMPTE webinar on media production in the coronavirus era. With stay-at-home mandates in place since March, “it’s been difficult to sustain normal workflow,” he said. “I think we’ve all jumped into the deep end of the pool with these technologies. We’ve pushed this technology adoption curve forward probably by two years.” And “we have not just remote contributors, but remote production operators, remote engineers -- everyone’s remote.” The “crazy thing” about that environment is “we’re not just surviving, we’re thriving,” he said. “The technology is incredibly empowering. Not only have we managed to keep our production going, but we have done everything from taking hours of commute off people’s days to reducing pollution.” The new normal doesn’t just apply to news or sports, “but also to traditional film and TV production,” he said.
COVID-19 focused worldwide attention on drones, speakers said during an Akin Gump webinar Wednesday. The pandemic “created an environment … we have not seen before,” said Ruby Sayyed, International Air Transport Association acting director air-transport movement infrastructure. The need for remote access to facilities for security, inspection or disinfection “increased because of the pandemic,” but safety is critical for the public to accept more use of drones, she said. “When we look at integrating drones into the supply chain, it’s going to take more than just technologies to enable that and to make that scalable to different locations and regions,” Sayyed said. Mark Wuennenberg, Drone Delivery Canada vice president-regulatory affairs, said his company trialed delivery of supplies to a remote first-nation community on an island. The normal mode of delivery is by helicopter with a cost of $1,300 hourly, he said. Drones can reduce that 80-90%, he said. The island community’s goal is to have zero COVID-19 cases because of limited healthcare services, Wuennenberg said. “They can very quickly become overwhelmed and the best method to address the threat is simply not have contact” with outsiders, he said. The company wants to enter the U.S. market and is seeking more harmonization with rules here, he said. “That will do wonders for the U.S. industry.” Building trust with government is important to getting regulations right, Wuennenberg said, noting Canada has been looking at drone rules for six years. “It was important to start early so we understood the box in which we were operating,” he said. Since March, Kenya-based Astral Aviation has been delivering COVID supplies to 26 countries in Africa using manned flights, said CEO Sanjeev Gadhia. Africa is made up of 54 countries, which is a challenge, he said. The “good news” is that after a three-year process, Kenya has rules, which are being harmonized with other nations in East Africa, he said. Drones are being used in Africa for broadcasting the importance of social distancing and spraying hot spots, he said. Once vaccines are developed, a challenge will be getting them everywhere, especially since they have limited shelf life, Gadhia said. Drones can help with last-mile delivery, he said: “We believe Africa is the perfect testing ground. This is the place where we have the worst infrastructure and a lot of challenges with accessibility and connectivity.”
A bipartisan group of House Oversight Committee members urged support Wednesday for creating a White House national cyber director. Republican opponents questioned the need for creating additional bureaucracy and duplicating cyber authorities, during a virtual hearing. Proponents cited COVID-19 as an example that the federal government isn’t prepared to respond to global threats.
U.S. 911 call centers face a “very likely budget crisis” due to COVID-19 (see 2005120038), said Mark Reddish, APCO senior counsel, during a NG-911 Institute webinar Wednesday. Call centers remain mostly locked down four months after the pandemic hit, other officials said.
Radio's future remains unclear, said BIA Advisory Services Chief Economist Mark Fratrik in a Tuesday webinar his firm hosted. The economy and local advertising showed signs of improvement in May and June as states and localities reopened, but recent surges in COVID-19 cases could “put a stop sign on recovery,” Fratrik said. Ad trends tend to lag slightly behind the broader economy, said BIA Managing Director Rick Ducey. Pandemic economic issues also affect regions differently, so a station’s outlook can depend on its market, Fratrik said. Radio is slowly reclaiming its audience reach, Fratrik said. Its audience reach numbers are overall 95% of March, he said. Drive-time listening numbers are down because of a drop in commuting, but midday numbers are up from listeners working from home, he said. Stations shouldn’t expect much of a boost from political commercials because radio traditionally isn't a main outlet for political spots, Fratrik said. That could change this year as campaigns look for replacements for in-person political rallies, said Mark Levy, president of Revenue Development Resources. Money that would have gone to campaign branded merchandise for such rallies or for donor luncheons could get snapped up by radio, he said.
The vast majority of “company leaders” surveyed plan to let employees work remotely at least “some of the time” after the pandemic, reported Gartner Tuesday. It canvassed 127 human resources executives June 5, finding 82% intend to continue with telework policies at least part time. Forty-seven percent said they plan to let employees work remotely “full time,” it said. “Flex time” will be the new normal for many organizations, it said. Forty-three percent versus 42% plan to grant employees flex days or flex hours. “The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a huge experiment in widespread remote working,” said Gartner. “As business leaders plan and execute reopening of their workplaces, they are evaluating more permanent remote working arrangements.”
App use by U.S. smartphone owners during Q2 grew 20 minutes a day year-over-year, led by mobile browsing and social networking apps Facebook and TikTok, said Strategy Analytics Tuesday. Games had the biggest share of smartphone minutes, though usage was largely flat. Social media app usage rose 21% and business and finance, including videoconferencing, grew 68%, as users largely worked from home during the pandemic. Browsing app minutes were up 13%, lifestyle 12% and productivity 7%. Time spent using video entertainment apps including YouTube and Netflix declined 12% and 33% “as customers defaulted to other devices with bigger displays” and better user experiences, said the researcher. Smartphone behaviors are shifting as users observe stay-at-home orders and "adapt to new norms as a consequence of COVID-19,” said analyst Nitesh Patel. Apps having strong declines were in transport (44%) and travel and location (35%). Consumers also are meeting communication and entertainment needs with tablets, PCs, games consoles and smart TVs, said analyst Barry Gilbert.