U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) seeks help from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in extending Colorado’s broadband infrastructure to help end the state’s mental health crisis via improved telehealth services.
“Broadband connectivity remains a significant barrier to telehealth adoption and is a key feature of the urban-rural digital divide,” Sen. Gardner wrote in a July 9 letter sent to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, in which the lawmaker urged the FCC to continue looking for new opportunities to bring federal funding to the state for broadband infrastructure in order to increase telehealth services.
“With rising suicide rates and a growing mental health provider shortage, Colorado is facing a mental health crisis,” wrote the senator, citing data from the Colorado Health Institute showing that more than 1,100 state residents, “a record number of Coloradans,” died from suicide in 2016.
In addition, high suicide rates in the western part of the state are compounded by “severe mental health provider shortages and challenging travel conditions and distances,” according to Sen. Gardner, who wrote that “telepsychiatry has the potential to alleviate the burden of these shortages by quickly connecting individuals facing challenges to mental health providers in urban centers.”
“Coloradans deserve access to quality healthcare regardless of which corner of the state they are from, and telehealth plays a critical role in bridging the rural-urban healthcare divide,” he wrote.
Commissioner Carr, in fact, announced in a July 11 Clarion Ledger op-ed, co-written with U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), that the FCC in August plans to establish a new $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program” to support telehealth for U.S. military veterans and low-income Americans, especially those living in rural areas.
“To improve outcomes, drive down costs, and increase access to healthcare, policymakers at every level of government should support this trend towards connected care everywhere,” Carr and Sen. Wicker wrote in their opinion piece. “We look forward to launching the Connected Care Pilot Program and seeing positive results for patients across the country.”
Carr added in a July 11 FCC statement that the commission is seeing “a trend in telehealth towards connected care everywhere.”
“The FCC has long supported the deployment of broadband to healthcare facilities, but advances in technology mean that high-tech, life-saving services are no longer limited to the confines of connected, brick-and-mortar facilities,” Carr said.
In Colorado, Sen. Gardner wrote that he has firsthand experience about how such confines impose burdens on people who must travel long hours to access quality healthcare. “Excellent broadband infrastructure can help alleviate these burdens, something I am thankful you witnessed yourself in visits to Colorado and conversations with our rural telecommunications providers,” he told Carr.
Sen. Gardner also has introduced a bipartisan bill that would expand access to healthcare in rural and urban areas by permitting Medicare to cover additional telehealth services.
The Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act of 2017, S. 787, which he unveiled last March with original cosponsor U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), would establish a telehealth service model, as well as Medicare payment rules with respect to certain services tested under the model, according to the congressional record summary.
Additionally, S. 787 would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to test Medicare coverage of expanded telehealth services in conjunction with existing models, and require CMS to establish a methodology for determining the amounts of payment for such services and to provide for evaluations of the service model by an independent entity.
S. 787 has been referred to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for consideration.
“As technologies continue to improve, telemedicine has the potential to dramatically improve health outcomes for rural America,” Sen. Gardner wrote to Commissioner Carr. “I hope you continue to work at the Federal Communications Commission to find ways to empower rural communities and provider networks when it comes to delivering communities in Colorado and beyond quality telehealth services.”