FCC Digital Health Symposium: Advancing Broadband Connectivity as a Social Determinant of Health

This virtual event will gather public and private sector thought leaders from a variety of disciplines, including telecommunications and health care, to discuss issues around recognizing broadband connectivity as a “social determinant of health.” Social determinants of health reflect the fact that health begins where we live, learn, work, and play; they are the non-medical factors (including education, health care access, income, and employment) that affect health or can serve as a predictor of one’s health status. Participants will also explore the implications of this framework for national broadband policies, population health, and government-wide efforts to address health inequities. Achieving digital health equity through improving broadband access and adoption is an FCC priority and will be an overarching theme of this event.

This symposium recognizes the increasing evidence demonstrating a strong relationship between broadband access, Internet adoption, and health. For many years, stakeholders have viewed broadband as a critical means to connect healthcare providers to patients and to close gaps related to time and distance, but, unfortunately, many Americans are still falling through the broadband health gap. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on health inequities and broadband gaps, including for people of color as well as people living in rural, tribal, and other underserved communities. Hence, it is critical to ensure that the benefits of broadband connectivity are available to everyone, everywhere.

The Task Force’s research over the years indicates that one promising solution may lie in a paradigm shift—in recognizing that broadband plays a more direct and consequential role—as a social determinant of health, if not as a “super” determinant of health. The Task Force’s Advancing Broadband Connectivity as a Social Determinant of Health Initiative is pursuing this promising research to inform public policy and help close the digital divide in health. Additional information about this Initiative, including prior and ongoing research and analytics work in this field, is available at www.fcc.gov/health/SDOH 

Participants will, among other things:

• elicit and discuss perspectives and identify insights on broadband connectivity as a social determinant of health;
• explore the future of broadband-enabled health technologies (e.g., home hospital) and how FCC policies and programs could support ongoing innovations within the social determinants of health framework;
• identify seminal literature and data sources and future research needs; and
• frame a call-to-action for additional research and a policy roadmap to support and establish broadband connectivity as a social determinant of health domain.

10:00 am – 10:20 am Welcoming Remarks and Introductions

10:20 am – 11:25 am PANEL 1: Current Perspectives—Relationship Between Broadband and Health

Natalie C. Benda, PhD, Dept. of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine  Carter R. Blakey, Deputy Director, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and Director of the Division of Community Strategies, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

Karen Onyeije, JD, LLM, BS, Acting Deputy General Counsel, FCC, and Chief of Staff, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force; and Arielle Mancuso, PhD, Director for Research and Data Analytics, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force

Benjamin Sommers, MD, PhD, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services; Madjid “MJ” Karimi, PhD, CPH, Division of Health Care Quality and Outcomes, Office of Health Policy, ASPE; and Euny C. Lee, PhD, MS, BA, CDC Public Health Informatics Fellow, ASPE

11:35 am – 12:00 pm Fireside Chat: The Value Proposition of Broadband Connectivity in Health

Moderator: David Ahern, PhD, Senior Advisor, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force

Guest: Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, KBE, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; Faculty, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm PANEL 2: How Connectivity is Enhancing Health and Transforming Health Care; Emerging Technologies and Innovations

Moderator: René Quashie, Vice President of Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Digital Health, Consumer Technology Association

Michael R. Crawford, MBA, MHL, Associate Dean for Strategy, Outreach, and Innovation, Howard University College of Medicine

Joe Drygas, Vice President - Global Business – Healthcare, AT&T  Elisabeth Myers, MBA, Deputy Director, Office of Policy, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Karen S. Rheuban, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean of Continuing Medical Education, and Director, University of Virginia Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth

David C. Rhew, MD, Global Chief Medical Officer, VP Healthcare, Worldwide Commercial, Microsoft

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm PANEL 3: Connecting the Dots: Establishing Broadband Connectivity as a Social Determinant of Health Domain

Moderator: Chris Gibbons, MD, MPH, Senior Advisor, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force

Susan Dentzer, MS, Incoming Chief Executive Officer, America's Physician Groups

Jill Egeth, PhD, MS, BA, Managing Director, Healthcare Delivery & New Opportunities, The MITRE Corporation

Gretchen Purcell Jackson, MD, PhD, FACS, FACMI, FAMIA, President and Board Chair, American Medical Informatics Association

Lauren Riplinger, JD, BA, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, American Health Information Management Association

Gopal Singh, PhD, MS, MSc, DPS, Senior Health Equity Advisor, Office of Health Equity, Health Resources & Services Administration

2:30 pm – 3:30 pm PANEL 4: Looking Ahead: Implications of Broadband Connectivity as a Social Determinant of Health Domain for Policy, Care, and Equity

Moderator: David Blumenthal, MD, The Commonwealth Fund

Joshua Edmonds, MPP, BA, Director of Digital Inclusion, Department of Innovation and Technology, City of Detroit

William England, PhD, JD, Senior Advisor, Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, Health Resources & Services Administration

John Horrigan, PhD, BA, Senior Fellow, Benton Institute for Broadband and Society

Mikelle Moore, MBA, MS, Senior Vice President and Chief Community Health Officer, Intermountain Healthcare

Jorge A. Rodriguez, MD, Digital Health Equity Researcher and Hospitalist, Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Adie Tomer, MPP, BA, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

3:35 pm – 4:25 pm PANEL 5: Next Steps: A Focus on Broadband and Health Data and Social Determinants of Health Research

Moderator: David Ahern, PhD, Senior Advisor, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force

Robin Gelburd, JD, President, FAIR Health

Kiersten Frobom, MPA, BA, Senior Evidence Analyst on Evidence & Policy Analysis Team, County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, Population Health Institute, University of Wisconsin

Patricia Keenan, PhD, Senior Researcher, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Adam Perzynski, PhD, Associate Professor, Center for Health Care Research and Policy in the Population Health Research Institute at MetroHealth and Case Western Reserve University; Founding Director of the Patient Centered Media Lab

Robin Vanderpool, DrPH, Chief, Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute

To register, please visit: https://mitre.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_vQdwl_nVSmyEIqdk2dJNPA