FCC telemedicine committee makes debut

The Federal Communications Commission recently introduced its Telecommunications and Health Care Advisory Committee, which will provide guidance to the FCC on how to improve the telecommunications infrastructure to deliver telemedicine and other health care services to rural areas.

Greg Lawler, committee chairman and a lawyer with the firm Florio & Perucci, said the committee's job is not to recommend one technology over another, but to figure out "where telemedicine is going and what it means for everybody."

Committee members believe the biggest challenge they face is that, between now and September, they must produce a report to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, made up of FCC and state commissioners. The joint board, in turn, will make recommendations to the FCC on how to implement the goals of universal access.