Connect2HealthFCC is a senior-level, multidisciplinary task force designed to move the needle on broadband and advanced healthcare technologies. Recognizing that technology innovations in clinical practice and care delivery are poised to fundamentally change the face of healthcare, C2HFCC is charged with exploring the intersection of broadband, advanced technology, and health and will focus on further charting the broadband future of health and care. This will ensure that the FCC stays ahead of the health technology curve. The task force also will serve as an umbrella for all FCC health-oriented activities.
Connect2HealthFCC will promote effective policy and regulatory solutions that encourage broadband adoption and promote health IT, identify regular barriers and incentives to the department of advanced healthcare technologies and devices, engage a diverse array of traditional and nontraditional stakeholders to identify emerging issues and opportunities in the broadband health space, strengthen the nation’s telehealth infrastructure through its Rural Health Care Program, and more.
The task force seeks broad public and private stakeholder input and collaboration to meet these goals. Consistent with the statutory mandate, the intent is ensure that advanced communications technologies are widely available to all Americans.
The mission is as follows: By identifying regulatory barriers, as well as incentives, and building stronger partnerships with public and private stakeholders in the areas of telehealth, mobile applications, and telemedicine, we seek to accelerate the adoption of advanced health care technologies—leveraging broadband and other next-gen communications services, highlighting promising health IT and telemedicine initiatives across the country and abroad, and expediting a vital shift to more ubiquitous, broadband-enabled health care solutions along the entire health and wellness continuum.
Michele Ellison is deputy general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and chair of the FCC’s Connect2Health Task Force. Previously, Ms. Ellison served as the agency’s chief of staff. Prior to that, she was chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and has also led the agency’s legal team as acting general counsel.
Under her leadership, the commission took consistent and aggressive action to enforce the Communications Act and the commission’s rules—issuing more than $300 million in proposed penalties and settlements and taking nearly 6,000 enforcement actions. During her prior 12-year stint in the Office of General Counsel, Ms. Ellison oversaw the transactions, bankruptcy, and fraud litigation portfolios and successfully negotiated multimillion dollar litigation settlements valued in excess of $4 billion.
