Wireless Solutions Will Advance Healthcare for Rural Veterans, Technology and Health Professionals Say
Innovative wireless health technologies can overcome healthcare barriers for veterans in rural areas, speakers said Thursday during a House Health Subcommittee hearing. “For the three million veterans living in rural areas, access to health care remains a key barrier, as they simply live too far away from the nearest VA medical center,” said Chairman Michael Michaud, D-Maine. Given certain barriers, “it is no surprise that our rural veterans have worse health outcomes compared to the general population.” If wireless technology is utilized effectively, “it can be a tremendous benefit, especially for rural veterans,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.
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Wireless healthcare is the “new infrastructure-independent model of health care,” said Joseph Smith, chief medical officer at the West Wireless Health Institute. For veterans in mainly remote areas, “this means avoiding the burden of time and expense required to make repeated visits to distant facilities."
Increased use in mobile devices among veterans presents opportunities to introduce new technologies for medical care, said Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at the Brookings Institution. Monitoring devices can put patients “in charge of their own test-taking and monitoring their own vital signs,” which keeps them out of physicians’ offices for routine check-ups.
Wireless solutions also can lower the costs of healthcare, Smith said. “Because of their pervasiveness and low cost, cell phones and other wireless technologies are well-suited to cheaply transmit information and help patients and health care providers manage chronic diseases."
The panelists said regulatory certainty and sound policies will advance the benefits of wireless healthcare solutions for veterans. It’s clear that the current lack of regulatory clarity “as to which components of wireless health solutions are and are not considered medical devices … is dampening investment in wireless technology and chilling this promising engine of innovation,” Smith said. “We have to make sure that the regulatory path for the innovators who are making these things is quite clear for them. At the moment it is clearly not."
Congress needs to help drive rural broadband enhancement by reducing statutory and regulatory barriers to telehealth, “ensuring health information exchange,” providing ongoing support of the Universal Service Fund and “improving inter-agency collaboration around telehealth services,” said University of Virginia Health System professor David Cattell-Gordon.
Despite advancements, “the U.S. lags behind other countries in health information technology adoption,” said Kerry McDermott, FCC Office of Strategic Planning adviser. The connectivity gap, outdated regulations and misaligned economic incentives are among the barriers that stand in the way of wireless health solutions, she said. “Broadband is either unavailable or too expensive.” Many healthcare providers “lack adequate connectivity to support full utilization of health IT.” About 3,600 small physicians’ offices aren’t served by existing mass market broadband infrastructure and “70 percent are in rural locations,” she said.
To address connectivity issues, the National Broadband Plan proposes overhauling the FCC Rural Health Care Program “by creating a permanent infrastructure fund, broadening coverage for monthly recurring costs to all types of broadband services and expanding eligibility for the program,” she said. The plan also recommends that E-care technologies “should be incented with outcomes-based reimbursement.” Without reimbursement reform, “the market for health IT solutions is limited.” The FCC and Food and Drug Administration plan a joint public meeting July 26 and 27 to address the uncertainty regarding regulatory frameworks and approval processes, she said.