In a late night voice vote on June 7, 2016, the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act finally passed the full Senate. Among other things, the new law promises to open up opportunities for both the long-term care industry in rural areas and the health IT industry serving those rural populations with telemedicine and telehealth solutions. By providing funding under the pre-existing Communications Act of 1934, the law allows skilled nursing facilities to receive broadband connections at comparable rates to those charged for similar services in less costly urban areas. The Communications Act required broadband providers to provide advanced telecommunication services in rural areas at the same price as urban areas, but previously only applied to certain types of health care providers (excluding nursing homes), schools, and libraries. After President Obama signs the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act into law, skilled nursing facilities in rural areas will be included in those reduced broadband rates.

Rural nursing homes stand to benefit from reasonable broadband rates in a number of ways. Nursing facilities struggle to differentiate themselves and compete with one another, especially in rural areas, and Wi-Fi access is a popular amenity - especially among aging baby boomers. A study published last week by Information Systems Research found that healthcare-focused social networks greatly improve care for patients, a sign that the ability to use Facebook or other social media sites may be getting closer to becoming a necessary Activity of Daily Living. Employees and employers may also benefit from increased connectivity (leading to better retention and turnover rates), as long as proper policies are in place to manage internet and social media use by employees. Better broadband access will also help improve the exchange of electronic health records (“EHR”), opening opportunities to rural providers to participate in Meaningful Use and the new Advancing Care Information MACRA provisions for use of EHRs. Finally, overcoming the biggest obstacle to telemedicine – bandwidth – will be far easier when this bill is signed into law.

The bill originally stalled for several months, with some commentators speculating that it was not urgent enough to pass this year, even though it would open up funding to some 1,650 public and nonprofit nursing homes - all potential customers for health technology vendors. To get the short bill to pass the House last month, it was tacked on to the end of the Toxic Substances Control Act. After the combined bill passed last week, long-term care providers in rural areas can finally embrace modern technology at a fair price, and healthcare technology vendors can focus on bringing healthcare technology to a wider audience.

Passage of the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act will help skilled nursing facilities, an important source of healthcare for many seniors in rural areas throughout the country, access the broadband necessary to compete with urban areas and provide the care that their patients need.

To review the entire document and formatting for this alert (e.g., footnotes), please access the original below: