Herron cautions administration on eHealth's lack of rural reach

Senator puts director of Bredesen's healthcare tech council on notice

Email | Print By Milt Capps

Sen. Roy Herron

Sen. Roy Herron (D-Dresden) this afternoon cautioned the chairman of Gov. Phil Bredesen's eHealth Advisory Council that rural counties feel left out of the state's efforts to create regional health information exchange networks, while the state's urban areas seem favored, thus far.

Pointedly addressing eHealth Advisory Council Director Antoine Agassi, Herron said at one point: "Hear me, when I tell you that a whole lot of the state does not look like it's part" of the state's efforts to enlist physicians, hospitals and other providers in adopting telecommunications and information technologies that will eventually make possible the introduction of electronic health records for Tennesseans statewide.

Agassi had just shown the State Broadband Task Force a chart depicting robust health-information initiatives in Northeast, Middle and West Tennessee -- where five new or emerging health information networks are fast-becoming reality.

The map also reflected wide expanses of rural Tennessee -- which Herron said included 40 counties in the western half of the state, alone -- that have not been brought into the ambit of any regional network.

Agassi assured Herron and Task Force Co-Chairman Mark Maddox (D-Dresden) that a survey of information-technology usage by healthcare providers now underway includes rural areas. He said further development has thus far been hampered mainly by inadequate availability of high-speed broadband capacity at affordable rates.

Herron and Maddox have repeatedly focused attention on the underdevelopment of rural infrastructure for telecomputing, which is viewed as increasingly important in both healthcare delivery and economic development.

Today's exchange between Herron and Agassi may signal an increased likelihood of legislation next year aimed at accelerating rural broadband infrastructure development.