In response to recommendations by the mHealth Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission has launched a new website to serve as a central repository for the FCC’s health care-related work and is searching for a new position to coordinate the agency’s health care technology-related initiatives.   Chairman Genachowski convened the FCC’s first mHealth Summit earlier this year to discuss the “promise of mobile devices to improve health care and lower costs. “   Participants in the summit formed an independent mHealth Task Force, which made a number of policy recommendations to the FCC, including the the appointment of a Director of Health Care Initiatives.  The Commission is now seeking to fill that position, which it says is an important step in the FCC’s ongoing mission to expand access to health care applications through wired and wireless broadband.   The mHealth Task Force report also recommended that the Commission comprehensively reform and modernize the Rural Health Care Program.

According to the FCC, the Director of Health Care Initiatives will spearhead the following health-related initiatives for the FCC:

  • Continued engagement with the health care and telecommunication community, including with the mHealth Task Force, the NIH mHealth Working Group, and our federal partners, including HHS, FDA, and NTIA.
  • Work with current FCC specialists on implementation of and outreach for the new Health Care Connect Fund, which will foster the creation and extension of broadband networks of health care providers throughout the country
  • Collaborate with FCC experts on continued innovation in spectrum policy, including across Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) spectrum, Medical Micropower Networks (MMNs), Medical Device Radio Communications Service (MedRadio), and wireless medical device testing.
  • Continue implementation of the recommendations in the Health Care section of 2010 National Broadband Plan, which aims to maximize the impact of broadband and health information technology to transform health care delivery, including implementing the new Health Care Connect Fund, upgrading the Indian Health Services’ broadband network, creating economic incentives for broader health IT adoption and innovation, unlocking the power of health care data and advanced analytics, and modernizing rules to increase access to e-care.
  • Design and implement a new Pilot program to explore expanding broadband healthcare networks to skilled nursing facilities
Tags: FCC, healthcare, mHealth
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Photo of Libbie Canter Libbie Canter

Libbie Canter represents a wide variety of multinational companies on privacy, cyber security, and technology transaction issues, including helping clients with their most complex privacy challenges and the development of governance frameworks and processes to comply with global privacy laws. She routinely supports…

Libbie Canter represents a wide variety of multinational companies on privacy, cyber security, and technology transaction issues, including helping clients with their most complex privacy challenges and the development of governance frameworks and processes to comply with global privacy laws. She routinely supports clients on their efforts to launch new products and services involving emerging technologies, and she has assisted dozens of clients with their efforts to prepare for and comply with federal and state privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act.

Libbie represents clients across industries, but she also has deep expertise in advising clients in highly-regulated sectors, including financial services and digital health companies. She counsels these companies — and their technology and advertising partners — on how to address legacy regulatory issues and the cutting edge issues that have emerged with industry innovations and data collaborations.

As part of her practice, she also regularly represents clients in strategic transactions involving personal data and cybersecurity risk. She advises companies from all sectors on compliance with laws governing the handling of health-related data. Libbie is recognized as an Up and Coming lawyer in Chambers USA, Privacy & Data Security: Healthcare. Chambers USA notes, Libbie is “incredibly sharp and really thorough. She can do the nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds legal work incredibly well but she also can think of a bigger-picture business context and help to think through practical solutions.”

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