Broadband Key to Expanding Telehealth Access

On Oct. 7, 2021, physicians and industry experts told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that telehealth can't succeed without expanding access to affordable broadband internet.

Deanna Larson, CEO of Avel eCARE, applied and received COVID relief funding for her company to set up telemedicine in more emergency settings, skilled nurse facilities, and in-home settings. "We were able to impact hundreds and hundreds of lives through the funding we received," she stated during the hearing.

That funding will expire when the pandemic is over. And the typical barriers to licensure and other bureaucracies will be reinstated, limiting clinicians' ability to provide care across states and in rural areas where access to specialized care is hard to come by.

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