Industry Voices—A healthy America is a connected America

Telemedicine is one of the key opportunities for telecommunications technology to change lives for the better. Thankfully, advances in the ability to diagnose and treat patients remotely using high-speed broadband connections are coming at a crucial time in American medicine.

With increasing shortages of skilled physicians and technicians in many American communities, the ability to use remote connections can be the difference between life and death.

People often focus on telemedicine as a vital way to extend excellent healthcare into rural America. The need is great; more than 120 rural hospitals have closed since 2005 alone. But...