Telemedicine: Will it Bridge the Provider Gap?

A growing patient population, a shrinking doctor pool. This is not an ideal set of circumstances, but it is reality for the dialysis industry. Could telemedicine be part of the solution? According to leaders at the Federal Communications Commission, possibly. On July 15, 2010, the FCC introduced a new healthcare connectivity program to expand investment in broadband for medically underserved communities across the country. The purpose of the program is to give patients in rural areas access to state-ofthe- art diagnostic tools that are usually only available in large and wealthy medical centers.