Senate panel looks to health IT role as population ages

Communications and medical technologies have the ability to keep more seniors healthier at a lower cost, particularly those who live in remote rural areas, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging, told the panel at a hearing on April 22. The hearing, "Aging in Place: The National Broadband Plan and Bringing Health Care Technology Home" focused on the spread of broadband, how information technology might change the way patients and their doctors relate, the potential for cost savings and some of the barriers to "aging in place."