Lowering costs and expanding access are the hallmarks of true health-care reform. For many Americans, a doctor’s visit is either too expensive or too far away.

Innovative strategies like telehealth are paving a new way forward, without the big-government mandates of Obamacare. Instead, telehealth focuses on what matters most: connecting patients with quality care. New technology is broadening patients’ health-care options, even though they may live miles away from a major medical center. It is also helping save lives, equipping health-care providers with the ability to communicate in real time with emergency responders.

Changing the Health-Care Landscape

Mississippi is at the forefront of the telehealth revolution. Earlier this month, I visited the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) to meet the telecommunications teams providing emergency assistance and specialized care across the state. The medical center’s telehealth program gives doctors in small, rural hospitals the ability to turn to UMMC specialists for consultations in a matter of seconds. Similarly, first responders can interact with hospitals about a patient’s condition while still in the ambulance, saving critical time in the emergency room. According to UMMC, its telehealth services benefit some 8,000 patients each month.

A shortage of physicians and the prevalence of chronic conditions make telehealth a particularly effective approach for improving our state’s health-care landscape. This is certainly true in Sunflower County, where a pilot program known as the Diabetes Telehealth Network is using the Internet to connect patients with specialists who can routinely monitor glucose readings and provide health advice. So far, all of the patients have reported that their diabetes is now under control, reducing the need for unnecessary hospital visits and costly medical expenses.

Closing the Digital Divide

The availability of broadband is essential to telehealth’s success. And yet, more than 53 percent of Americans who live in rural areas do not have broadband access. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, I have consistently worked to close the digital divide, allowing all Americans to reap the benefits of broadband – no matter where they live. Rural and urban communities alike should be able to take advantage of the quality health care that broadband can facilitate.

To examine this issue more closely, I recently convened a subcommittee hearing titled “Advancing Telehealth Through Connectivity.” A panel of experts, including Dr. Kristi Henderson from UMMC, discussed successful and innovative telehealth models across rural America, including Dr. Henderson’s work in Mississippi. Understanding the progress we have made and the challenges that remain is important to preparing for telehealth’s rapid growth. Worldwide, these services are expected to reach 7 million people by 2018.

Lawmakers recognize the potential for telehealth to save lives and save money at the same time. I am encouraged by support for the “Telehealth Enhancement Act,” which I plan to reintroduce in the Senate later this year with Sen. Thad Cochran. Our legislation would improve Medicare payment policies, giving doctors more incentive to incorporate telehealth into their practices.

America’s health-care system needs solutions that put patients first. Telehealth is one of these solutions, expanding access and affordability in unprecedented ways.