Experts See Greater Investment in Broadband and Devices Helping Improve Health Outcomes

Community health experts and consumer advocates encouraged increased investment in broadband access and devices that can be used for telehealth during a Broadband Breakfast webinar on Wednesday. In addition, panelists discussed the benefits of community or public investment in broadband as a way of improving health outcomes. They also noted potential steps regulators could consider for protecting patient data.

"There's a great opportunity for us to use technology, connected by high-speed broadband, to improve health and reduce health disparities," said Julia Skapik, National Association of Community Health Centers chief medical information officer. Maintaining and improving connectivity in rural areas should also be a priority, Skapik said, citing disparities in telehealth access in urban and rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We ideally want to see technology and connectivity ... be a bridge that reduces that digital divide and reduces those health disparities," Skapik said. However, "without a concerted effort to really raise those equity and justice issues ... we are at risk of making that a new source of disparities."

Broadband is "an absolute necessity," said Champions Community Foundation's technology director, Paul Via: "It's like having water. It's like having sewage." Via noted that CCF may consider subsidizing families as the organization grows beyond the Atlanta area. "We want more companies to be involved in creating assistive technology" so "we can do more for our base folks," he added.

Access to a smartphone is "absolutely essential to what we do," Via said. "It's absolutely incredible that we have this device that can be so powerful, as we all know," he added. Consumer Technology Association Director-Digital Health Catherine Pugh agreed and noted a rise in the use of software as a service (SaaS) in telehealth (see 2301060050).

"Smartphones at that point are also very critical to access care" because the devices can use a "clinically-validated app," Pugh said. Skapik added that smartphones allow patients to "document and track longitudinally the conditions they have chronically."

Pugh raised concerns about how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act applies when consumer data is obtained through SaaS platforms and other electronic means (see 2103020054). If data "never enters the four walls of a healthcare provider," HIPAA doesn't cover it, Pugh noted. A state privacy law might cover such data, but there "needs to be a strong privacy law" nationally because privacy protection "shouldn't vary by what state you live in."