Viewpoint: Telecommunications and Internet Broadband Policy: Sorting Out the Pieces for Telerehabilitation

Authors

  • Kate D. Seelman University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ijt.2010.6051

Abstract

Technological change is accelerating and with it regulatory upheaval.  Most of us agree that providing universal telecommunication services to all our citizens is a worthy ideal.  Nonetheless, many of us do not agree that regulation should be the means to make broadband Internet services widely available. This Viewpoint begins sorting out pieces of the emerging United States, regulatory and policy puzzle for broadband Internet with an eye to the interests of telerehabilitation providers and consumers. Just how might changes in legal authority, regulation and agency jurisdictions impact us?

Key words: telecommunications regulation, telerehabilitation, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Telecommunications Act of 1996, National Broadband Plan; Comcast vs. FCC; electronic health records (EHR); personal health records (PHR); health information technology (HIT),

 

  

References

Commission Implements Telecom Act’s’ Universal Service Provisions. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1997/nrcc7032.html Accessed June 2010.

National Broadband Plan Connecting America. http://www.broadband.gov/ Accessed June 2010.

Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology. http://www.coataccess.org Accessed June 2010.

U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/201004/08-1291-1238302.pdf. Accessed June 2010.

The Third Way: A Narrowly Tailored Broadband Framework. http://www.broadband.gov/the-third-way-narrowly-tailored-broadband-framework-chairman-julius-genachowski.html. Accessed June 2010.

F.C.C. Moves to Expand Role in Broadband. New York Times, June 18, 2010, B2.

Converged Communications and Health Care Devices Impact on Regulation. http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/mdsy_converged-communications-and-health-care-devices-impact-on-regulation-public-meeting-request-for-c-990471.html Accessed June 2010.

Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/ONC Accessed June 2010.

Blumenthal Named National Coordinator for Health Information Technology http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/blumenthal-named-national-coordinator-health-information-technology Accessed June 2010.

Health Information Technology Standards and Certifications. http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1153&mode=2. Accessed June 2010.

Personal communication with David Basquith, Access Board June 2010.

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Published

2010-09-24

How to Cite

Seelman, K. D. (2010). Viewpoint: Telecommunications and Internet Broadband Policy: Sorting Out the Pieces for Telerehabilitation. International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 2(1), 3–6. https://doi.org/10.5195/ijt.2010.6051

Issue

Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2010

Section

Viewpoints

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