National Broadband Plan: Connecting America
FCC broadband plan targets e-health expansion
Brian Robinson of Government HealthIT reported on March 16, 2010 “The Federal Communications Commission formally adopted and forwarded to Congress a plan to significantly upgrade U.S. broadband connections that could greatly boost the adoption rate of health IT.” 

FCC Unveils U.S. Broadband Plan Promoting Health IT, Telehealth
On March 17, 2010, iHealthBeat cited Robinson’s article and noted “The plan includes 11 recommendations for using broadband networks to spur greater use of electronic health records, health data exchanges and telemedicine” in  Chapter 10 on Health Care. 

White House Blog Post by US CTO Aneesh Chopra
In a post on the White House blog on March 16, 2010, Aneesh Chopra wote that the Obama administration “has also undertaken initiatives to bring the efficiencies and innovations of broadband to many sectors of the economy. These initiatives include the Department of Health and Human Services’ commitment to facilitating the movement of healthcare information safely and securely from where it is collected to where it is needed in order to reduce costs and improve patient care.” 

Executive Summary: National Broadband Plan
The  Executive Summary, notes that the federal government is the largest health care payor in the country and  the Broadband “plan includes recommendations designed to unleash increased use, private sector investment and innovation” in broadband to support healthcare in addition to other sectors of the economy. 

“Broadband can help improve the quality and lower the cost of health care through health IT and improved data capture and use, which will enable clearer understanding of the most effective treatments and processes. To achieve these objectives, the plan has recommendations that will: 

• Help ensure health care providers have access to affordable broadband by transforming the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program.
• Create incentives for adoption by expanding reimbursement for e-care.
• Remove barriers to e-care by modernizing regulations like device approval, credentialing, privileging and licensing.
• Drive innovative applications and advanced analytics by ensuring patients have control over their health data and ensuring interoperability of data.”

The Promise of Health IT and the Role of Broadband
“Health IT plays a key role in advancing policy priorities that improve health and health care delivery. Priorities set forth by HHS include the following: 

• Improving care quality, safety, efficiency and reducing disparities
• Engaging patients and families in managing their health
• Enhancing care coordination
• Improving population and public health
• Ensuring adequate privacy and security of health information

“Health IT supports these priorities by dramatically improving the collection, presentation and exchange of health care information, and by providing clinicians and consumers the tools to transform care. Technology alone cannot heal, but when appropriately incorporated into care, technology can help health care professionals and consumers make better decisions, become more efficient, engage in innovation, and understand both individual and public health more effectively. 

“Analysis of information gathered through health IT can provide a basis for payment reform. Payors, providers and patients are focusing increasingly on value. However, data to measure the effectiveness of prevention and treatment on individual and population-wide bases are lacking. This hampers attempts to shift from a volume-focused system that pays for visits and procedures to a value-based regime that rewards cost-effective health improvements. 

“Broadband is necessary for these transformations in three ways. First, it enables efficient exchange of patient and treatment information by allowing providers to access patients’ electronic health records (EHRs) from on-site or hosted locations. Second, it removes geography and time as barriers to care by enabling video consultation and remote patient monitoring. Third, broadband provides the foundation for the next generation of health innovation and connected-care solutions.” 

RECOMMENDATIONS
Create appropriate incentives for e-care utilization. 

• Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) should consider developing a strategy that documents the proven value of e-care technologies, proposes reimbursement reforms that incent their meaningful use and charts a path for their widespread adoption.

Modernize regulation to enable health IT adoption.

• Congress, states and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should consider reducing regulatory barriers that inhibit adoption of health IT solutions.
• The FCC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should clarify regulatory requirements and the approval process for converged communications and health care devices.

Unlock the value of data.

• The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) should establish common standards and protocols for sharing administrative, research and clinical data, and provide incentives for their use. 
• Congress should consider providing consumers access to—and control over—all their digital health care data in machine-readable formats in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost.

Ensure sufficient connectivity for health care delivery locations.

• The FCC should replace the existing Internet Access Fund with a Health Care Broadband Access Fund.
• The FCC should establish a Health Care Broadband Infrastructure Fund to subsidize network deployment to health care delivery locations where existing networks are insufficient.
• The FCC should authorize participation in the Health Care Broadband Funds by long-term care facilities, off-site administrative offices, data centers and other similar locations. Congress should consider providing support for for-profit institutions that serve particularly vulnerable populations.
• To protect against waste, fraud and abuse in the Rural Health Care Program, the FCC should require participating institutions to meet outcomes-based performance measures to qualify for Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidies, such as HHS’s meaningful use criteria.
• Congress should consider authorizing an incremental sum (up to $29 million per year) for the Indian Health Service (IHS) for the purpose of upgrading its broadband service to meet connectivity requirements.
• The FCC should periodically publish a Health Care Broadband Status Report.

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN: Connecting America
Broadband.Gov Web site
The Plan
Broadband and Healthcare
Chapter 10: Health Care PDF