This report originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of DOTmed Business News

The Senate Committee on Aging held a hearing on the national broadband plan and the impact it may have on telehealth for seniors. According to Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), the funding in the 2009 stimulus bill efforts should expand the broadband network for health care practitioners to take advantage of technology. However, Kohl said, there are still "stumbling blocks" in the way of widespread adoption of telehealth technologies in the home.

Hearing witness Dr. Farzad Mostashari, senior advisor to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, described specific telehealth or "e-Care" technologies that can increase access to specialty services in rural areas, such as video consultation services; home monitoring daily metrics of patients' health; and secure sharing and remote reading of patient information including radiographic images.
Mohit Kaushal of the National Broadband Plan at the Federal Communications Commission further discussed how broadband-enabled health information technologies can mitigate some health issues, reduce the cost of care and improve clinical outcomes. Kaushal also explained the barriers to the e-Care technologies, including a connectivity gap where broadband is either missing or too expensive; misaligned economic incentives-where the prevailing fee-for-service reimbursement system pays for volume rather than outcomes (which prevents many of these technologies from being paid for); and outdated regulations, created before the use of remote monitoring and videoconferencing.

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