Rural broadband and telehealth critical to America's COVID-19 response

Telehealth can play a vital role in keeping more Americans healthy and easing the stress on the capacity-strained health care system. Recognizing the role telehealth can play in reducing patients’ potential exposure and helping reduce capacity burdens on health care facilities, Congress cleared barriers to greater usage of telehealth solutions in the early stages of its response to the crisis. The easement of these regulatory barriers will help many seniors with conditions that require monitoring but who would be better off avoiding frequent in-person visits to a health care facility, pursue telehealth alternatives. Yet for many of the Americans who may most benefit from telehealth solutions, including seniors, veterans and those with pre-existing conditions, the current situation has put the spotlight on the impact of the digital divide that leaves more than 17 million Americans in rural areas without access to broadband internet. Congress can help broadband connectivity and the telehealth solutions it supports to ease the strain on rural health care systems, by ensuring stimulus resources can be directed toward broadband buildouts in unserved and underserved communities on a quick time scale. With continued dedication and the right leadership on these issues, we can make tremendous progress in bridging the digital divide — a pre-existing necessity underscored in its urgency by the coronavirus crisis.

[Richard Cullen is the executive director of Connect Americans Now, a Microsoft supported TV white spaces  advocate]