Health and Media

USDA Invests $72 Million in Distance Learning and Telemedicine Infrastructure in 40 States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

The United States Department of Agriculture is investing $72 million in grants to help rural residents gain access to health care and educational opportunities. These investments will benefit more than 12 million rural residents. USDA is funding 116 projects through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program.

House Democrats’ Updated Version of The Heroes Act

House Democrats unvieled an updated version of the Heroes Act as a way to revitalize stalled talks over another COVID-19 pandemic relief measure. The $2.2 trillion bill would provide:

Lack of Broadband Access Linked to Childhood Poverty

Lack of good broadband access is a strong predictor of childhood poverty. That’s the finding of Broadband Communities’ recent analysis combining county-level broadband data it has collected since 2010 with comprehensive, county-level poverty data compiled by the nonprofit organization Save the Children. We looked at overall poverty rankings, and, with sensitivities heightened because of the current need for distance learning, we also analyzed high school graduation patterns.

HHS Releases Plan to Improve Rural Health Focuses on Better Broadband, Telehealth Services

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released the Rural Action Plan, the first HHS-wide assessment of rural healthcare efforts in more than 18 years and the product of HHS’s Rural Task Force, a group of experts and leaders across the department first put together by Secretary Alex Azar in 2019. The plan lays out a four-point strategy to transform rural health and human services, with a number of actions that can be launched within weeks or months. Leveraging tech and innovation was one of the strategies, which includes:

When It Comes to Covid-19, Most of Us Have Risk Exactly Backward

Too many view protective measures as all or nothing: Either we do everything, or we might as well do none. That’s wrong. Instead, we need to see that all our behavior adds up. Each decision we make to reduce risk helps. Each time we wear a mask, we’re throwing some safety on the pile. Each time we socialize outside instead of inside, we’re throwing some safety on the pile. Each time we stay six feet away instead of sitting closer together, we’re throwing some safety on the pile.

Chairman Pai Continues to Ask Congress for $430 Million for FCC Teleheatlh

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is pushing Congress to make “more funding available for connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic — including at least $430 million in funding for the highly successful but underfunded COVID-19 Telehealth Program,” a spokesperson said, noting that the FCC has conveyed these requests for months. Congress in March slated $200 million for the Covid-19 Telehealth Program, and the FCC has since awarded that cash to subsidize connectivity for 539 health care entities across the country.

Telehealth is here to stay. West Virginia doesn't have the broadband capability to support it.

Telemedicine has proved effective during the pandemic, keeping people with chronic health conditions away from crowds and allowing more one-on-one time between patients and caregivers, according to health professionals. But West Virginia has a connectivity problem. Without sufficient internet access, drastic health disparities will widen between the state’s most impoverished and vulnerable communities and wealthier places, said Dr. Rahul Gupta, West Virginia’s chief health officer from 2015 to 2018. It’s not just telehealth that requires sufficient broadband.

Congress cannot sacrifice patient health and access to medical care

Our nation’s health depends on immediate action to ensure that Americans urged to stay home can do so. Households that otherwise cannot afford it must receive access to broadband internet and unlimited telephone use. The Senate will very soon consider a coronavirus stimulus package: it must include an emergency communications benefit. The Senate should act to offer low-income households a $50 monthly benefit to obtain faster speed broadband and unlimited talk and text for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

Committee Approves Bills, Nominations

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a number of bills and nominations including the following:

Advancing Health Equity through Telehealth Interventions during COVID-19 and Beyond: Policy Recommendations and Promising State Models

As state policymakers consider telehealth policy changes, it is critical to consider the continued challenges that both providers and patients face in both accessing and utilizing telehealth interventions. Considering both the public health crisis and future patient needs, Families USA has assembled state policy recommendations around three themes: Improving financing and implementation, Removing provider barriers, and Improving patient access to telehealth services.

House Committee Advances 7 Communications Bills

The House Commerce Committee advanced seven communications bills and one House resolution to the full House of Representatives.

Appropriations Bill Would Block Parts of Trump Sec. 230 Executive Order

An appropriations bill that would fund the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission includes language that would limit President Donald Trump's effort to regulate social media, as well as provide billions to help better identify and close the digital divide, and use secure technology to do so. The bill, which includes funding for a number of agencies and programs, has $67,040,000,000 in "emergency infrastructure investments to respond to the economic collapse related to the coronavirus," most of which ($61,040,000,000) would go to pay for expanding broadband in unserve

Coronavirus Pandemic Spotlights Problems With Online Learning

Distance learning in the pandemic highlights a problem that experts have warned about for years - some students have good access to the Internet, and others do not. It's called the digital divide. Many districts are about to start the school year with more distance learning, so how can they narrow that divide? Nicol Turner Lee thinks it's important for schools to put together what she calls the 21st-century remote access blueprint.

Lessons From the Pandemic: Broadband Policy After COVID-19

The historic COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity for policymakers to examine the successes and failures of the nation’s broadband system. The stay-at-home orders, business closures, and social distancing necessary to fight coronavirus transmission generated a considerable increase in broadband traffic and a dramatic shift in usage patterns. The jump in demand has seen peak traffic roughly 20 to 30 percent higher than before the pandemic. Thankfully, the increase in broadband traffic was within the anticipated growth in demand operators could already accommodate. As such, U.S.

Digital Transformation In A COVID World – The More Things Change…

The mad spring rush for capacity is behind us, and now companies are assessing how the pandemic impacted their businesses. While we are starting to see some clients return to normal with their data and application transport requests, entire segments, such as hospitality or small and medium businesses, remain cautious. It’s a good time to take pause and figure out what’s next. A lot of what we think is new is really just stuff that was already in place before the crisis hit.

‘Colorblind’ Tech is Killing Us: Why COVID-19 Tech Must Focus on Equity

As states began to more systematically document the demographics of those falling ill, it quickly became clear that Black and Latinx communities were far more likely to suffer the lethal impact of the virus. But, today, most technological innovations remain strangely ‘colorblind’ to the reality that racial inequalities play a significant role in where COVID-19 makes the most significant impact.

Feds Fail At Funding Parity for Telehealth for Urban People

Nearly 12 million urban household have no access to telehealth, but Federal agencies earmark billions for broadband and telehealth grants targeted to 3.8 million disconnected rural households. Urban communities demand parity with rural community for these grants that their tax dollars and telephone bills support. COVID-19’s disproportionate killing of Black people has thrown into stark relief the many health issues afflicting this population, afflictions that telehealth can mitigate.

Chairman Pai's Response to Senators Regarding Implementation of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters to 16 members of Congress on June 22, 2020, to respond to their letter asking the FCC for information on how it will select applicants for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Pai said the FCC consulted with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify the hardest-hit areas and the FCC has taken steps to ensure health care providers have the necessary information to participate.

FCC Announces Increase in Rural Health Care Program Funds for FY 2020

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau directed the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program, to carry forward up to $197.98 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2020 demand for the Program. The Rural Health Care Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604.76 million.

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for July 2020 Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the July Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 16, 2020:

Not Alone

Items on the Federal Communications Commission's July 2020 agenda:

Recap of FCC Oversight Hearing

All five Federal Communications Commissioners testified at a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing. Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said the hearing was an opportunity for Commissioners to discuss what more can be done to expand broadband access and digital opportunity for all Americans.

Advertisers Urge Controls on Flow of Cellphone Data to Government

The Network Advertising Initiative, a national trade group representing the digital advertising industry, has advised member companies to put stricter controls on consumer mobile-phone location data they provide to government units such as public health authorities and law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Skyrocketing Telehealth Visits Call for Much More Broadband Capacity

Healthcare providers are hurting. As positive coronavirus cases increase in many rural parts of the country, hospitals and health clinics struggle to keep pace with the heightened demand for telehealth visits. Physicians are now seeing 50 to 175 times the number of patients via telehealth than they did prior to the pandemic. The increase in popularity is for good reason.