Tamara Thomas

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The lack of high-speed internet access in many parts of rural America is a significant barrier to the expansion of digital healthcare services, which could, in turn, exacerbate healthcare disparities in these vulnerable communities, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health.
Despite having one of the most robust broadband infrastructures in the world, the United States still has over 21 million people living in “digital deserts” without broadband access. Of these, 14 million are rural Americans.                
For this study, Dr. Diego Cuadros and colleagues evaluated the association between the ease of accessing broadband internet in a county and the vulnerability of that county to social and health problems.
The researchers used data from the Survey and American Community Survey Geographic Estimates of Internet Use from 1997 to 2018, which included data for 3108 counties in the United States. Broadband access is defined as the percentage of the population with a high-speed internet subscription.
The study revealed that counties with the highest broadband access had the most robust healthcare system, the lowest barriers to healthcare access, and the lowest social vulnerability. By contrast, the researchers found that Counties with the worst broadband access had the weakest healthcare system, the highest barriers to healthcare access, and the highest levels of social vulnerability.
Furthermore, the researchers found that socially vulnerable communities in the United States live in areas with fewer healthcare resources and have less access to high-speed internet. The researchers observed that most of the vulnerable communities were in the South and Southeast regions of the country, among them Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Dr. Cuadros noted that it is essential for patients to have access to high-speed internet and devices and be comfortable using them to take advantage of the growing availability of telemedicine and online health services.
“The digital divide is already here. But in the future, we’ll be even more reliant on these technologies, so that divide is only going to get bigger.” Dr. Cuadros wrote.
The authors noted that digital health services exist to bridge the gap in healthcare disparities. However, inequities will only deepen without addressing the challenges these marginalized populations face.         
“The point is telehealth is not going to be useful to everybody. It will be extremely useful to people who already have good access to health care, but it’s not going to be very useful to those who don’t,” Dr. Cuadros said.
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Source: <a href="https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2023/03/us-technology-gap-means-more-americans-will-have-less-access-to-health-care.html">University of Cincinnati News</a>
Journal source:  <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949761223000305#fig1">Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health.</a>

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Lack of High-Speed Internet Access in Rural America Will Worsen Health Care Disparities

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