Broadband internet proves a hurdle as telehealth services continue to rise in popularity

By Haley Chi-Sing
Boston University Statehouse Program

BOSTON – The COVID-19 pandemic forced nearly every business and industry to shift to virtual overnight – including the health care system. Medical consultations, physicals, and check-ins were all brought online and, almost two years later, it seems more people prefer it this way, with telehealth services being used at 38 times the levels than before the pandemic. 

Despite the positive feedback from patients, lawmakers and doctors alike are asking the same question – can you conduct a proper virtual consultation – whether physical or behavioral – when the patient doesn’t have the proper equipment to log onto their appointment?

“Prior to the pandemic, we focused on barriers such as lack of transportation or inability to get time off of work as major barriers to getting care,” said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School. “The lack of internet access is a new barrier that many patients face in accessing care.”

Telehealth services proved useful when treating minority and underserved populations, specifically Black and Latinx communities who were not in close proximity to clinics and doctors. These demographics also proved significantly more susceptible to contracting COVID, further pushing ethnic minorities to virtual consultations. 

“The digital divide disparately impacts poor communities and communities of color,” CEO Michael Curry said in a statement released by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. 

According to Boston25, approximately 1,200 families in Boston alone lacked internet access as of August 2020, with many more reporting they did not have computers in the home. MassINC reported that 40 – 50% of homes that do have internet access lack broadband service entirely. Without fundamentals like computers and proper internet access, neither the doctor nor the patient can make the appointment. 

As the digital divide continues to become more apparent, state lawmakers are actively looking for ways to support low socioeconomic demographics via funding and bill proposals to expand broadband internet. 

“Researchers have found broadband internet access to be a social determination of health. And then it has become even more obvious or more important with the pandemic and with COVID,” said Rep. Danillo Sena, D-Acton. 

Sena is one of the main proponents for petitioning for a formal investigation into the relation between broadband internet and public health care services in Massachusetts. Sena stated that the bill’s proposed first steps would include public housing funding, through which tenants would be guaranteed broadband access throughout the building. 

“Access to broadband or access to internet and Wi-Fi became more of a right and not a privilege,” Sena said. “That’s why we’ve filed this bill because it’s so important that people have access to Wi-Fi.”

On a much broader scale, the Massachusetts Senate passed the Patients First Act in 2020 as a means to ensure all state residents get proper health care access and services. Since then, Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, has made it one of her top priorities to ensure all Massachusetts residents have equitable telehealth access, including broadband internet. 

“Part of what [Gov. Charlie Baker and the Senate] talk about is contacting and being in touch with communities across the state that either have strong broadband access or lack it,” said Spilka. “And the state, I think as a whole, has made a conscious effort to try to help communities in different areas of the state to increase their access and have it on a more reliable basis.”

According to Spilka, the Senate has bolstered funding from ARPA via various bills and proposals to expand internet access to lower socioeconomic demographics. ARPA funding has also been in the works to provide financial assistance to residents who cannot afford to pay the required internet fees. 

“We need to just redouble our efforts to make sure that every zip code of Massachusetts has strong reliable access to broadband and the internet and is able to connect,” Spilka said. 

Likewise, private entities, including the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, are also working towards overcoming this digital obstacle, specifically by seeking partnerships with state government officials. 

“Telehealth is a permanent part of our health care system’s future, but it will only reach its full potential once it is accessible to everyone throughout the commonwealth,” said Akriti Bhambi, MHA’s Director of Health Equity. “MHA and our members are working in partnership with our elected leaders to ensure that all community members – no matter their location or their means – can utilize virtual services to the greatest extent possible.”

As the private and the public spheres begin to work together to promote equitable telehealth services, the extent of how these partnerships can expand broadband access comes into question. 

“There are some pretty archaic Medicare regulations that restrict … where telehealth services can be offered to beneficiaries in a post-pandemic landscape that I think many hospitals are looking to see addressed by the federal government before the end of the pandemic,” said Mara McDermott, Vice President at McDermott+Consulting. 

Stephen Bernstein, a partner with McDermott Will & Emery, spoke to that same note, explaining how the government is susceptible to falling back to tougher pre-pandemic health care and infrastructure policies rather than expanding upon the new needs. 

“The fear is that as the federal government turns that relaxation off – they haven’t yet – and various states start to do the same, that there’s an automatic go-back-in-time world where the old rules automatically apply. And I think that is what’s happening as a result,” said Bernstein. “That’s crazy. We’ve made progress. Why would you want to do that?”

With a new governor taking office in 2023, lawmakers say the next steps for Massachusetts’ broadband and telehealth expansion remains unknown. But there is optimism. 

“I think this is something we’ve made strides, we need to keep working on it,” Spilka said. “And I would imagine whoever is governor will continue to pick up the mantle on this because it’s so critically important to the health of our residents, to the economic vitality, to our commonwealth, and to the education of our residents as well.”