Communications technology-enabled solutions that can play an important role in the transformation of healthcare. Media coverage of health issues. And the impact of various media on health.
Health and Media
Chairman Pai Remarks at Veterans Affairs Telehealth Summit
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been aggressively implementing telehealth services. And at the Federal Communications Commission, we’ve been working to seize the opportunities of connected health for all Americans, including veterans. So it’s fitting that we gather this morning to reaffirm our shared belief that telemedicine can improve the quality of health care that our veterans receive. We can’t realize the promise of telehealth without connectivity. This is one of the reasons that, since day one as FCC Chairman, my top priority has been closing the digital divide.
Rural Health Care (RHC) Program participants have been asking a lot of questions over the last few months - both about the uncertain future of the program and about FY2018 funding requests. But the biggest question of all for FY2018 applicants is simply, "When will I know if my funding has been approved?"
Welcome & Intros: Congressman Rick Boucher, IIA Honorary Chairman
SESSION 1: Policy Prescription to Advance Telemedicine
Panel moderated by Dr. Karen Rheuban, Medical Director, Office of Telemedicine and Pediatrics, University of Virginia School of Health
A conference call open to all Tribal governments, members and organizations to provide an overview of and answer questions about a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on creating an experimental “Connected Care Pilot Program” to support the delivery of telehealth services to low-income Americans through universal service fund support.
Your Kid’s Apps Are Crammed With Ads
In apps marketed for children 5 and under in the Google Play store, there were pop-up ads with disturbing imagery. There were ads that no child could reasonably be expected to close out of, and which, when triggered, would send a player into more ads. Dancing treasure chests would give young players points for watching video ads, potentially endlessly. The vast majority of ads were not marked at all. Characters in children’s games gently pressured the kids to make purchases, a practice known as host-selling, banned in children’s TV programs in 1974 by the Federal Trade Commission.
A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley
The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them. A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is OK.
Broadband connectivity is critical for many reasons, including access to quality healthcare. From remote patient monitoring to mobile health applications accessed via smartphones, tablets, or other devices, advances in telemedicine and telehealth technologies have impacted patient care and health outcomes far away from hospitals and doctors’ offices. Connected-care services significantly reduce economic and administrative costs for patients and healthcare providers.
5G is coming, but not everyone is happy about it
For 5G, rather than relying on the huge cellular towers that already loom over industrial parks and shopping centers, carriers are counting on "small cell" antennas placed only hundreds of feet apart. About the size of a backpack, a small cell is typically installed atop an existing utility pole or streetlight, sometimes with other equipment closer to the ground. The small antennas are less powerful than cell towers, covering an area of up to 1,000 feet rather than a few miles. So carriers need more of them to blanket a neighborhood.
The 'Wet Blanket' of 5G Wireless
During Senate Commerce’s field hearing in South Dakota on 5G wireless technology, Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken raised what he called “the wet blanket” of the coming wide-scale deployment: “I feel we also need to address ... what health impacts micro millimeter waves have because it’s so new,” TenHaken told Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD). “I’m going to get asked this 20 times yet this evening about the health ramifications of 5G ...
Is Alexa Dangerous?
We’re all falling for Alexa, unless we’re falling for Google Assistant, or Siri, or some other genie in a smart speaker. Privacy concerns have not stopped the march of these devices into our homes, however. Amazon, Google, and other tech corporations have grand ambitions. They want to colonize everyday space. The company that succeeds in cornering the smart-speaker market will lock appliance manufacturers, app designers, and consumers into its ecosystem of devices and services, just as Microsoft tethered the personal-computer industry to its operating system in the 1990s.