FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has made wider broadband access one of his top priorities by announcing a $400 million plan to expand health care access to America’s rural and underserved communities. The Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP) will develop broadband e-health networks in 42 states and three U.S. territories. Martin’s announcement was made in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services at a recent meeting of the American Health Information Community in Chicago.

The telecom industry has been working to increase broadband delivery to rural and hard to reach communities across the nation (see our blog entries on ConnectKentucky and the RUS broadband loan program) and we welcome Martin’s commitment to this issue. USTelecom member companies are investing a great deal of resources into the building of high-speed Internet networks that are among many things delivering the promise of health care to so many rural Americans.

Many rural areas have limited access to health care facilities and suffer from a shortage of doctors, nurses, and technicians. Martin hopes the RHCPP will reach more than 6,000 health care centers and vastly improve the quality of healthcare for Americans living in rural parts of the country.

This program deserves the support of anyone and everyone concerned with rural America. Under RHCPP, new networks will reach places like the California-Arizona border, western Montana, North Dakota, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Many consumer benefits come as a result of access to broadband services — the ability to share increasing amounts of information at greater speeds, increased productivity, and more open access to information. This initiative is just one way to make some of those benefits a reality.

Interested in more information on today’s e-health efforts? Visit NextGenWeb’s E-Health section. This page is a terrific set of resources for anyone wanting to get up to speed on how broadband is reshaping the medical field. Be sure to check it out!

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