Does Poor Broadband Deter Telemedicine Adoption?

Access to health care is a critical problem in many rural areas of the United States. Few physicians choose to practice in rural counties, according to the National Rural Health Association, yet the rural population is, on average, older and more in need of medical care. Census Bureau data show that 18 percent of the rural population is age 65 or older, compared with 13 percent in urban areas. Rural clinics and hospitals are consolidating or closing, leaving people to drive long distances to see doctors. Policymakers are counting on telemedicine to fill in the gaps. Patients have access to a wider array of health services if they can consult with doctors from home or a local clinic. Telemedicine has been proven effective for many types of medical care, but its adoption is still limited. To find out whether reliance on telemedicine is justified, Coleman Drake of the University of Pittsburgh and three other researchers examined how many people had access to broadband that supports video-based doctor visits. They used the National Broadband Map to measure each county’s access to broadband (as defined by the 25 Mbps / 3 Mbps standard) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) classifications to determine each county’s access to health care. 

Drake and his colleagues found parallels between broadband access and health care access – especially access to psychiatric care, for which telemedicine is very suitable. Overall, counties with adequate access to primary care physicians had 82 percent access to broadband, but counties with inadequate access to primary care physicians had 79 percent access to broadband. Counties with adequate access to psychiatrists had 83 percent access to broadband, and counties with inadequate access to psychiatrists had only 65 percent access to broadband.