FCC Creates Task Force To Boost Wireless Health Adoption

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

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• Telehealth

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On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission announcedthat it will create a new task force to examine ways to accelerate health care organizations' adoption of wireless technologies, The Hill's "Hillicon Valley" reports (Hattem, "Hillicon Valley," The Hill, 3/4).

Task Force Details

The task force -- called Connect2HealthFCC -- will be led by Michele Ellison, who has served as chief of FCC's Enforcement Bureau since 2009. Ellison will work with FCC's Director of Health Care Initiatives, the chiefs of the Wireline and Wireless Bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology, as well as, public and private health care stakeholders.

In a statement, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler said the task force would work to:

• Identify regulatory barriers and incentives to expand the use of wireless health technologies; and
• Strengthen partnerships with stakeholders in the telehealth and mobile health industries.

He said, "We must leverage all available technologies to ensure that advanced health care solutions are readily accessible to all Americans, from rural and remote areas to underserved inner cities" (Slabodkin, Health Data Management, 3/5).

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2014/3/5/fcc-creates-task-force-to-boost-wireless-health-technology-adoption