Dive Brief:
- FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said at a recent town hall discussion at Jackson State University that telehealth is showing promise for expanded care in rural communities, especially in states like Mississippi.
- While Mississippi faces challenges because of generational poverty and its abundance of rural areas, which lack access to quality care and high-speed Internet and computers, telehealth can help connect doctors to those areas, she said.
- The University of Mississippi Medical Center operates a telehealth center that has services available at a number of community health centers and schools in Mississippi's smaller cities.
Dive Insight:
According to a report released in September by the American Telemedicine Association, Mississippi got an "A" for policies that support telemedicine adoption, which is one of the most influential factors in determining the extent to which hospitals support the technology. Another key issue is reimbursement: and a September report from the American Telemedicine Association has indicated that lack of coverage has slowed telemedicine's growth.
On the positive end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded $8.6 million in telehealth grants to rural healthcare groups—including $500,000 to the University of Iowa's eHealth Extension Network to provide 70 rural care facilities in the state with telehealth carts that include cameras and video-conferencing software.