Because reliable Internet access is critical to helping North Carolina providers meet a state mandate to connect to NC HealthConnex, the state-designated HIE, several business units within the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) are working together to improve the connectivity of rural residents and healthcare providers.
The NCDIT Division of Broadband and Digital Equity is administering several grant programs that fund the necessary infrastructure to bring high-speed internet access to underserved and unserved areas. Internet service providers may apply for these grant programs, but the first step is to verify that the area is actually lacking access and that another ISP is not already providing adequate service.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) National Broadband Map program initially estimated a little more than 250,000 locations in North Carolina were unserved and almost 300,000 were underserved. The FCC, however, encouraged states to challenge these numbers with their own maps.
While many states lack the resources to challenge the FCC data effectively, North Carolina has been investing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology for decades. That investment is now paying off in several ways thanks to the work of the N.C. Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (CGIA) and the N.C. Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC), the state says.
The Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, with the aid of CGIA, successfully challenged the FCC estimates, which helped uncover 115,000 additional locations, both residential and commercial, without Internet access or adequate speeds. This was possible due to the robust datasets in Address NC and NC OneMap, two tools that include parcel, address and building data in North Carolina.
North Carolina’s challenge added more unserved locations to the FCC’s data than any other state in the country. These additions increased North Carolina’s funding allocation through the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to more than $1.5 billion.
Beyond meeting the state’s connection mandate, this connectivity can improve patient care and prevent medical errors and duplication of tests. If a patient should need intense care at a larger hospital system, NC HealthConnex can inform their primary care provider of what treatment they received or what medications they were prescribed.
Through the N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority’s event notification service, NC*Notify, providers are alerted of admission, discharge and transfers if their patient presents at an emergency department in another town. Through national networks such as eHealth Exchange and the Patient Centered Data Home, they can even be alerted if their patient received care at a facility out of state.
Patients can also benefit from efforts to close the digital divide. Increased Internet access means the ability to fill out intake forms in advance, saving time during appointments, and the ability to access telehealth services.
