Genachowski: Medical Tech Gains Elude Areas Without Broadband

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told the mHealth Summit in Washington that "innovation at the intersection of communications technology and health care is essential to economic growth, job creation, and improving the quality of life for all Americans."

mHealth is the growing field of using hand-held communications devices, including off-the-shelf smartphones, for medical communications and information-sharing. The mHealth Summit was organized by industry nonprofits and the National Institutes for Health, which invited Genachowski.

The chairman recognized the innovative work being done with mobile devices, such as "a cardiologist in a large research hospital in Des Moines is reading the EKG of a young patient in remote Iowa - spotting irregularities before they turn into more serious conditions."

But Genachowski emphasized that such innovation couldn't reach many Americans who live in areas where either wireline or wireless broadband was absent. Addressing the conference, he said, "almost 100 million Americans don't subscribe to broadband at home. 20 million Americans live in areas without broadband infrastructure. And up to 30 percent of rural clinics don't have adequate broadband service. They can't offer telemedicine, easily access or exchange electronic health records, or view the results of diagnostic tests such as MRIs and x-rays."

For mHealth to succeed, he said, "we must ensure that broadband is ubiquitous - that everyone has access to broadband infrastructure and services, wherever they live. We also need to make sure our anchor institutions, like hospitals and government buildings, have the ultra-high speed connections they need."

Genachowski spoke of the changes and reforms to the Universal Service Fund and of the Connect America Fund supporting universal broadband. Specifically addressing mHealth, he said that, "the Commission for the first time established a goal as part of the Universal Service Fund of getting broadband to all community anchor institutions - including hospitals and clinics - throughout rural America. This is an important step toward getting medical institutions the tools they need to deliver robust in-building mobile data."

Speed Matters strongly supports the extension of high-speed broadband with 1 gigabit capacity to all community anchor institutions, including health care, schools, and libraries, as called for in the National Broadband Plan.

mHealth Summit website (Dec. 2011)

Remarks Of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, M-Health Summit (FCC, Dec. 6, 2011)

National Broadband Plan (FCC, 2011)