Broadband Anchor Institutions Drive Telehealth in Rural Areas

The FCC's Emergency Connectivity Fund is providing $7 billion worth of broadband and leading digital technology for two critical anchor institutions – libraries and schools. Three US Senators launched the BRIDGE Act to bring $40 billion to these and other anchor institutions. The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) opened a $122 billion grab bag of tech and non-tech funds. This trifecta of federal government largess could mean huge opportunities for rural public health; just as we are attacking the homework gap by pouring billions of dollars into anchor institutions, we should simultaneously attack the healthcare gap. For twenty years, libraries, schools, local government buildings, healthcare facilities, and other anchor institutions have been critical elements of community broadband network design, partly because these institutions can help finance many network buildout costs. But institutions’ key value is driving people to the network, and these institutions still drive telehealth access and adoption today. Telehealth may or may not be the silver bullet for public health. Yet it is a powerful tool to attack the healthcare gap between those who can access affordable, quality healthcare, and those who cannot, especially, rural populations, seniors, immigrants, the unemployed, and the working poor.

[Craig Settles assists cities and co-ops with business planning for broadband and telehealth.]