But without a robust and ubiquitous broadband network to support this new industry, the future of Indiana’s rural communities will be jeopardized.
People from rural areas have historically had to travel long distances to obtain specialized health care services. Now patients are able to access specialists remotely via the Internet at a local doctor’s office — as long as adequate broadband is available.
Along with saving the patient time, telemedicine generates laboratory and radiology revenue for local health care providers. This revenue is critically important to small communities that were previously ceding such income to larger, urban health care providers.
Advances in telemedicine are equally important to the practices of rural doctors. The lightning speed of fiber optic transmission services means that health care providers can now consult with specialists, monitor patients, and transmit and receive large files such as MRIs quickly.
This new efficiency gives doctors in rural locations the ability to be more effective — and is an economic game changer for local communities. According to the National Center for Rural Health Works, one primary care physician generates approximately $1.5 million in annual revenue for a local economy.
While the good news for Indiana is that broadband access is much better than it used to be, there continues to be room for improvement. According to the National Broadband Map, www.broadbandmap.gov, the majority of homes in three Indiana counties still don’t have access to download speeds of 3 megabits per second.
With President Obama recently nominating a new chairman for the Federal Communications Commission, it is an opportune time to discuss how government policies can best end the remaining digital divide. If we don’t, the health care of our residents will suffer and so will the long-term viability of our rural communities.
To bring broadband Internet access to all corners of Indiana, we need government to continue its long-standing approach of “light tough” regulation. By limiting unnecessary restrictions on the Internet, government has encouraged private Internet providers to invest nearly $1.2 trillion in wired and wireless broadband infrastructure since 1996.
Today, more than 80 percent of American homes are able to access download speeds of 100 Mbps. This type of connectivity is directly responsible for the revolution we are seeing in health care and other industries.
Indiana earned its nickname as the “Crossroads of America” because of its critical role in the shipping of rail cargo. Today, we find ourselves at a different but equally critical crossroads — ensuring that rural communities can benefit from broadband. It is imperative that government chooses the policies that lead our state down the road to prosperity.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Becky Sanders
Quelle/Source: The Star Press, 10.06.2013
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