In a recent article, Telemedicine can’t Help the People who Need it the Most,

the author points out that despite being a “buzzword,” telemedicine is lagging in the areas of Internet access and broadband speed Internet access, both of which are critical to bridging the last mile in health it for rural America.

As a follow up, we spoke with Iron Bow Technology’s Dan Klanderman, director health itcare solutions, about innovations in health it and bridging that last mile.

Klanderman shared that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as groups like the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) are putting a spotlight on the topic and working hard to develop more broadband capability in rural areas by offering funding through grants, exploring how to get broadband providers to invest in these areas and measuring progress.

While that buildout is necessary for health it and many other types of online opportunities that as many as 55 million Americans who don’t have access to broadband speeds are missing out on, Klanderman reminded us that some health it solutions don’t need broadband support. For example, “store and forward” monitoring of blood pressure or blood sugar can be done without it.

He also mentioned that many areas do not have always-on connectivity, but smartphones, health it providers and mobile providers are creating apps and innovative health it support through mobile devices. By multiplexing streams of 4G/LTE, they can create a significant pipe with the devices that are already in the home and have built in connectivity.

Listen to Dan Klanderman’s interview with Future Healthcare Today here.