State Policies That Advance Telemedicine and Gigabit Cities

Oregon has the highlest level of broadband adoption in the U.S. and the lowest percentage of unserved constituents. This did not happen by accident, but through deliberate policymaking that reach to the highest level of state government.

Chris Tamarin, Telecom Strategist for the Oregon Business Development Dept., joins us to talk about how his state became the leader of the pack. Of particular interest is how Oregon has established policies that overcome barriers to greater telemedicine advancement, such as:

*  encouraging and supporting the rapid deployment of telemedicine services where they currently do not exist;
*  requiring health benefit plans to provide coverage of medically necessary telemedical health services; and
*  requiring Oregon Health Authority to adopt uniform credentialing and privileging standards for telemedicine service providers (pending governor's signature.

Tamarin also gives listeners an overview of how local communities can build more effective relationships with state government that bring more businesses to town. Oregon's broadband policymakers have forged such relationships since 1991.