Fifth-generation (5G) wireless technologies will bring scale and speed to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) healthcare operations, but one VA official today said the focus must shift to closing the digital divide for veterans in rural communities – in parallel to the advanced 5G work.
Dr. Thomas Osborne, director of the National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation at the VA, said at an ATARC event today that 5G is only as fast as the slowest point in the VA’s workflow. For those veterans in rural areas without basic services, Dr. Osborne said 5G is not going to improve their healthcare experience with the agency…
Additionally, VA officials have previously said “the number one issue” to delivering telehealth services is a lack of sufficient and/or affordable broadband service in areas where some veterans live.
“If they can’t have basic connectivity for telehealth, for example, then we are going to be a long way from democratizing care,” Dr. Osborne said… Read the full article here.
