Telehealth Brings Health Services to Rural Populations (Sen. Mike Crapo)

Telehealth is a fairly recent phenomenon in rural medical services, one that provides critical services to people in rural areas in Idaho and across the country.  Often, people, especially the indigent or elderly, who live hours away from comprehensive medical services don’t receive the healthcare they need.  Telehealth provides modern, interactive medical technology to these populations.  The Office for the Advancement of Telehealth works to provide these services, and I’m pleased to report that an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill that adds $6.8 million to increase telehealth resources across the nation was approved.  This brings total funding for telehealth to $13.8 million.  Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) sponsored this effort with me, and we were glad to be joined by our colleagues, Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), whose constituents also benefit from these services.

As a member of the Medical Technology Caucus, I am a strong proponent in Congress for breakthrough medical technologies.  Telehealth uses digital technology and the Internet to allow prompt, accurate diagnosis and treatment even when patients and doctors are many miles apart.  The use of telehealth is critical for residents in rural states like Idaho.  It is already working here and we need to expand it to every corner of the state and nation.