Telemedicine Recommendations Due to White House Rural Council in 2 Weeks, NTCA Says

Stakeholders who participated in Wednesday’s White House Rural Council telemedicine event are expected to “report back to the Council in two weeks with thoughts, best practices, action items and pilot project ideas,” NTCA said in a blog post Thursday. It mentioned that officials from NTCA, the administration, the FCC, academia and elsewhere participated. “Building on the Obama administration’s ongoing commitment to expanding access to opportunity through quality, affordable health care, the event highlighted the essential role of telehealth in reaching high-need rural families and communities,” NTCA said. Several NTCA members were present, the group said. “NTCA had been working with the White House Rural Council to host this event because we really do believe that telemedicine can be a game changer for bringing economic development into rural America,” NTCA President Shirley Bloomfield said in a different blog post, calling it a “banner day.” Bloomfield said she had implored stakeholders “to work together to take some next steps and get some real action done before the end of this administration and to leave some good steps for the next administration to build upon.”