Broadband Deal Gives UNC Children's a Springboard to Telehealth Expansion

UNC Children’s Hospital is partnering with a network of broadband providers across North Carolina to expand telehealth access to underserved parts of the state.

The 10-year, $500,000 deal between the health system and CarolinaLink, an advocacy group for the seven broadband membership cooperatives comprising the North Carolina Broadband Cooperative Coalition (NCBCC), addresses a key barrier to telehealth expansion. It will allow UNC Children’s to push connected health services into parts of the state where access to care is a challenge, either because of geography or internet connectivity.

“By partnering with rural pediatric clinics and other rural care providers, we’ll be able to bring specialty care closer to home for these children and their families,” Michael Steiner, MD, MPH, Pediatrician in Chief at UNC Children’s Hospital, said in a press release. “We are grateful for the commitment and support from CarolinaLink and we are excited to launch this new telehealth program.”

“North Carolina’s communications cooperatives have always worked to serve the underserved areas of our state by providing critical communications services,” added Kim Shepherd, chief executive officer for SkyLine/SkyBest, one of the NCBCC’s members. “This new telehealth program is a perfect opportunity to utilize the broadband services we provide to connect families living in rural areas to world-class health services from UNC Children’s Hospital.”

The partnership is part of a growing trend of collaborations between health systems and broadband providers to create more reliable telemedicine platforms that can extend into areas where coverage is less than optimal.

With telehealth expansion a significant byproduct of the coronavirus pandemic, many health systems are looking for help with broadband connectivity. And they’re getting support from, among others, the Federal Communications Commission, which has several programs aimed at expanding connectivity and boosting telehealth adoption.

“So much more can be done to connect children and their families - in both urban and rural parts of the country - to the care they need not only to survive, but to thrive,” Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said during a February visit to Washington D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital to highlight connected health programs. “Telehealth can help bridge that gap by bringing specialty care available only in hospital centers to smaller clinics and even the home where problems can be addressed quickly, before they prove life threatening.”

The FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 sets aside $3.2 billion to expand broadband and connected health resources during the coronavirus pandemic. That program was recently given the green light to move forward.

In addition, the agency announced in January the first 14 award recipients for its $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, and it’s preparing to re-launch the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which used up its $200 million budget in 2020 and was given almost $250 million in the Consolidated Appropriations Act to keep going.

UNC Children’s, meanwhile, is already connecting with rural health systems and pediatric offices to extend its telehealth outreach, offering those sites virtual care access to specialists at the Chapel Hill hospital.

“The ability to provide the best care to more families will have such a positive impact on the health and wellness of children in North Carolina,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in the press release. “I look forward to seeing the great things that come of this new program.”