STATEMENT OF
 COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re: Promoting Telehealth in Rural America, WC Docket No. 17-310.
When a patient is presenting symptoms of a stroke, physicians have a saying: “time is brain.” 
Minutes can make the difference between full recovery and severe, permanent damage. That is why the 
University of Virginia Hospital System has put telestroke functionality in ambulances.  By ensuring life-
saving treatment can begin immediately, the program ensures that strokes are caught at the absolute 
earliest possible time. This advanced technology would not have been deployed organically, according to 
the system’s Director of Telehealth. As the Director stated just a few months ago, “[a]bsent the Rural 
Healthcare program, our ability to provide these services would be severely constrained.”
Whether it is telepsychiatry solutions for individuals in need of help, or the enabling of remote 
radiology readings to promote and speed the quality of healthcare, the FCC’s Rural Healthcare program 
has been a key plank undergirding the modernization of healthcare delivery. 
Unfortunately, as the FCC’s own Connect2Health Task Force has found, “[m]ost of the counties 
with the worst access to primary care physicians are also the least connected.” And this holds true both in 
urban and rural areas: that vulnerable urban grandmother who spends over two hours on the local bus 
system to see a doctor can benefit just as much from telehealth as her rural counterpart. We need to do 
better as a country, and that can start with a fresh look at our Rural Healthcare program.
Everyone stands to benefit if our Rural Healthcare program matches the needs of healthcare 
providers with the patients who rely on them. That means looking at everything from top-line funding 
levels to the nuts and bolts of program administration. The potential here is huge if we simultaneously 
reduce healthcare expenditures and improve patient outcomes, but we must get it right.
That is why I am pleased my colleagues agreed to include further lines of questioning in the 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. We expand the inquiry to seek comment on how we can incorporate 
what we have learned from our Connect2Health Task Force. 
We look at how best to improve transparency, and on how to equitably administer the program in the 
event funding requests cause us to hit the cap again. And, we look to understand whether and how to 
support remote monitoring consistent with our statutory mandate.
I always say that we need to make the business case for each and every one of our policies. This 
Rural Health Care Program is one where making the business case is incredibly easy. The program saves 
lives, reduces costs, and results in a healthier nation. Telemedicine consults with high-risk mothers result 
in an almost 40% reduction in the amount of infant days in the NICU, and it is here, especially, where the 
value proposition is both precious and crystal clear.
This item has my enthusiastic support.
Thanks to the Wireline Competition Bureau for your thoughtful work on reforming the Rural 
Healthcare Fund. I look forward to continuing to engage with you as we move towards developing an 
Order that will be a major driver in improving access and outcomes when it comes to healthcare in 
America.