Telehealth

The Department of the Treasury announced the approval of $22.5 million in federal funds for a multi-purpose community facility providing health care, education, and workforce services in Washington (DC) as a part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. These federal resources will go towards the expansion of Whitman-Walker’s Max Robinson Center at the St.

Elected officials at the local and federal level are urging Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offers discounted broadband service to low-income households, providing access to healthcare, education and employment. Lake County (IL) Board Member Jennifer Clark, who is also chair of the county’s special committee on broadband, said the program is “absolutely vital” to bridging the digital divide. Clark said that because Congress has not yet extended the funding, Lake County has seen a stagnation in people signing up for the benefits. “A lot of peop

Representatives Andrea Salinas (D-OR) and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) introduced the bipartisan Home-Based Telemental Health Care Act, legislation that would expand access to remote mental health and substance use services in rural America, especially for individuals working in the farming, fishing, and forestry industries.

An estimated 475,000 households across Louisiana have never had high-speed, affordable, reliable internet. The state has been working at a "feverish pace" to change that. In all, Louisiana will receive nearly $2 billion for projects, including grants from the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Treasury, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The state has drawn from a number of sources to improve access.

Network carriers are exploring nascent technology that would allow them to better and more quickly deliver certain apps and services on their network—but this technology, known as network slicing, could potentially run afoul of net-neutrality regulations. In the current model, all data traffic from phones is typically funneled through the same network. Carriers are able to prioritize the voice calls that they handle on that network, but they rarely have visibility into what else users are doing through other apps.

The Biden-Harris Administration is taking actions to improve the health of rural communities and help rural health care providers stay open. These actions:

Statewide telehealth use jumped dramatically among low-income Californians covered by Medi-Cal in March 2020, when telehealth visits began to be reimbursed at the same rates as in-person visits. We find comparable trends in California’s community health centers (CHCs)—primary care clinics that serve all comers—for Medi-Cal and undocumented patients. However, telehealth can still pose challenges for those who are uncomfortable with technology or lack English proficiency.

While the proposal I made to restore net neutrality will certainly garner the most attention, the Federal Communications Commission's October agenda features many other actions to promote digital equity and support broadband-powered innovation:

The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) was awarded a $35 million grant to install affordable, reliable high-speed fiber broadband in the three underserved TCC village communities of Venetie, Chalkyitsik, and Circle (AK). The project is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project, which is a larger collaboration between Calista Corporation; Doyon, Limited; Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited; Tanana Chiefs Conference; and Alaska Communications to connect more than 20 communities in the Yukon and Kuskokwim regions, beginning in Fairbanks and extending to the

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 8.3 million households lack access to high-speed broadband. Providing universal access to communications service—initially voice service and now broadband—has always been a challenge in the United States. Although connecting urban, populated areas is relatively easy, serving sparsely populated rural areas is difficult due to differences in terrain and population density.