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You are here: Home / Articles / Until Broadband Access Improves, Telemedicine Won’t Help Rural Communities

Until Broadband Access Improves, Telemedicine Won’t Help Rural Communities

May 22, 2019 • By Linda Carroll

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Often, people underestimate the broadband access problem, says. Peter Fleischut, MD, chief transformation officer at NewYork Presbyterian, New York City.

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“Technology is not value neutral,” Dr. Fleischut says. “It’s critical as each new technology emerges to make sure that it doesn’t worsen disparities. That’s a problem with telemedicine if a segment of the population can’t access it because there isn’t broadband.”

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And it’s not just rural counties that have this problem, Dr. Fleischut says. Some older buildings in urban areas present challenges, too, he adds.

Broadband access isn’t the only issue.

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“There are always challenges to any new technology,” Dr. Fleischut says. “For example, there are regulatory issues involved when you’re crossing state lines. If you see a provider and then cross a state line going home, you can’t have a video visit if the provider isn’t also licensed in your state even though you can have a phone call with that provider. And that’s true even if you’re doing something as simple as a follow-up visit.”


Reference

  1. Drake C, Zhang Y, Chaiyachati KH, et al. The limitations of poor broadband internet access for telemedicine use in rural America: An observational study. Ann Intern Med. 2019 May 21. doi: 10.7326/M19-0283. [Epub ahead of print]

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: patient access, rural, rural areas, telemedicine, video-based telemedicine

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