On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, the Connected Health Initiative met with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr about his proposed Connected Care Pilot Program, a new $100 million program to support telehealth for low-income Americans. This new program aims to reduce healthcare costs and spending by supporting technologies to connect patients and caregivers over the internet, particularly veterans and those in rural and low-income communities.
The Washington, DC panel discussion with Commissioner Carr featured key connected health stakeholders, including Joel E. Barthelemy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, GlobalMed. Barthelemy stated, “During our 16 years of experience in deploying telehealth solutions at thousands of locations — from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to 45,000 feet up on Air Force One — we have seen that evidence-based connected care can be transformative for the labor-intensive healthcare profession. By supporting the deployment of broadband to rural health facilities, the FCC Connected Care Pilot Program has the potential to accelerate virtual health adoption, thereby improving the lives of both patients and providers.”
Other stakeholder panel members included Shannon Murphy, Director Federal Health Solutions, Microsoft; Mark Liber, Academy Manager, StartUp Health; and David Cattell-Gordon, MSW, Director of Telemedicine, Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth, University of Virginia Health System.
ABOUT CONNECTED HEALTH INITIATIVE
CHI is the leading effort by stakeholders across the connected health ecosystem to clarify outdated health regulations, encourage the use of remote monitoring (RM), and support an environment in which patients and consumers can see improvement in their health. This coalition of leading mobile health companies and stakeholders urges Congress, ONC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and other regulators, policymakers, and researchers to adopt frameworks that encourage mobile health innovation and keep sensitive health data private and secure.