ORONO, ME – During a roundtable discussion today at the University of Maine in Orono, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) called for greater federal investment in telehealth technologies and regulatory changes that can help improve access to vital health care services for people, especially the elderly, in rural states like Maine. Senator King convened the roundtable – which brought together health care experts, broadband providers, representatives from the University of Maine, University of New England and Husson University, state representatives and innovative telemedicine businesses – to discuss the benefits of telehealth technology, its implications for the future of Maine's workforce, and how its delivery can be improved across the state and country.

“Telemedicine has the potential to revolutionize the way we deliver health care in America. Right here in Maine, we have seen how new telehealth technologies are helping to connect people to their doctors without even leaving their home,” Senator King said. “It's an advancement that we must continue to invest in and capitalize on, and today's forum was an important opportunity to share ideas, identify regulatory barriers to deployment of telemedicine, and‎ develop strategies to advance these positive developments. The government should be a partner in supporting the growth of telemedicine, which goes hand-in-hand with the expansion of our broadband networks. Through collaboration and collective public-private efforts, we can harness the potential of telemedicine to make health care more accessible, lower costs, and improve care all at the same time.”  

Telehealth services help improve access to health care for seniors who may have a difficult time traveling to healthcare centers and for people living in rural areas, particularly in states like Maine. The growth of telehealth technologies is enabling aging in place and has the potential to lower health care costs by facilitating more efficient use of resources. Many innovative businesses in Maine, including several attending the roundtable today, are making groundbreaking advances in telemedicine and sensor technologies. However, for telehealth to maximize its social and economic benefits, health care providers and patients all need sufficient broadband connectivity, a workforce trained in telemedicine and health informatics, and a regulatory environment that enables and encourages telehealth innovation.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service’s Distance Learning/Telemedicine grants, along with the Federal Communications Commission’s Healthcare Connect Fund, provide funding to support broadband connectivity to facilitate telemedicine. Other federal programs support telehealth development, including the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Telehealth Network Grant Program and Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program.

‎Today, regulatory uncertainty and a patchwork of inconsistent reimbursement rules and rates hampers the implementation of telemedicine and its great potential to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas. Modernizing payment models and federal programs to align with improvements in high speed Internet and the development of related technologies would bring greater efficiency to the health care system and promote the growth of telemedicine.  

A list of the roundtable participants is available HERE.

Following the roundtable event, Senator King also toured the University of Maine's Virtual Environment and Multimodal Interaction (VEMI) Lab to observe current work and research being done at the facility in order to assist the health care and telehealth industries. The lab, which is part of the University’s School of Computing and Information Science (CIS), uses virtual and augmented reality technologies to better understand how people with disabilities interact with the world around them.

Senator King is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society’s Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics. As a member of the steering committee, Senator King is working with his colleagues to support technology developments that are revolutionizing the delivery of rural health care services.

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