I believe that broadband technology is transformative, to quote my CEO Ivan Seidenberg. While in the U. S., almost 60 million homes have broadband connections and tens of millions of Americans use mobile wireless broadband networks operating at speeds similar to DSL connections, we still have only scratched the service regarding what broadband can do to help improve access to health care, the efficiency of our health care system, and the effectiveness of patient care regimens.
As the American Telemedicine Association has noted, twenty years ago, only large hospitals were connected with high speed lines. Under the Telecom Act of 1996, rural hospitals and clinics, using the rural health care program created by the Act, began to connect to each other and to larger, regional hospitals. A second phase of connectivity began when doctors, specialists and hospitals began to connect directly to homes monitoring vital signs and other patient information, but often at relatively slow speeds. Today, broadband and wireless connections can move beyond the hospital, clinic and even the home. New software based applications, video devices and HD screens and sophisticated analysis devices mean that today’s much faster broadband connections can offer more access to needed information and services than ever before.
But the health care system needs to catch up. While broadband is increasingly connecting Americans to the Internet, the health care system is not yet updated so that important patient health care records can be readily accessed by doctors wherever patients happen to be electronically. Savings in health care administrative costs could top $80 billion annually if we could transform paper records for patients into electronic files. Mistakes in treatment regimens could be reduced too as electronic records, connected with automated systems for dispensing needed pharmaceuticals, could help ensure that only the right type and amount of drugs was dispensed.
Beyond more effective management and treatment using electronic records, the constant improvements in broadband speeds that are occurring could mean major advances in access to needed health care and the effectiveness of treatment. Two-way, very high capacity networks based on the latest fiber technologies could help make it possible for doctors to assess patient progress, instruct patients on treatment programs, and check on patient vital signs and general appearance all from the convenience of home. Studies show that home treatment and care can be very effective, especially for elderly patients. Almost a million and a half people are cared for at home, disproportionately by women. High speed two-way networks like the FiOS system being deployed by Verizon mean better access to consultation services, monitoring and diagnosis than ever before. More and more Americans who are being treated at home are over 65 years of age and it is very difficult for many of them to move to a hospital. Good two-way connections, HD terminals and sophisticated digital analysis tools can dramatically improve care giving in the home.
Home health care is not the only part of the health care system that can advance and improve due to broadband networks and advanced health care records and administrative systems. But it is one area where women are often on the frontline and where high capacity two-way networks can do a lot of good.
