Connected Health Conference 2018 Keynote Series: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Champion Of Rural Broadband And Telehealth

ARLINGTON, Va. and BOSTON, Oct. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance), a HIMSS innovation company, today announced that Ajit Pai, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a keynote speaker confirmed to take the main stage at the 10th annual Connected Health Conference.

Lack of digital connectivity carries extremely high costs, but few areas reveal the challenges and opportunities of the digital divide better than health care. Chairman Pai has taken several steps to prioritize rural healthcare and telehealth in order to close that digital divide, including boosting funding for the FCC’s Rural Health Care Program to help meet the growing demand for telehealth services in the U.S. He is also collaborating with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to explore a new $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program to support telehealth services for low-income American families and veterans.

Under Chairman Pai’s leadership and through the Connect2Health^FCC Task Force, the FCC is working with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study how increased connectivity in Appalachia can help address the burden of symptom management for cancer patients. More generally, the agency’s groundbreaking Mapping Broadband Health in America platform enables data-driven decision making at the intersection of broadband and health, a critical step in bridging the digital divide in health.

Designated FCC Chairman by President Donald J. Trump in January 2017, he had previously served as Commissioner at the FCC, appointed by then-President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in May 2012. Chairman Pai has been focused on policies to bridge the digital divide, promote innovation, protect consumers and public safety, and increase transparency at the FCC. The Chairman has also visited a number of telehealth clinics and hospitals across the country to discuss the benefits of telemedicine.

Before his appointment to the FCC, Pai held positions with the Department of Justice, the U.S. Senate, the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, and also in the private sector.

Chairman Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1994 and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1997, where he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and won the Thomas R. Mulroy Prize. In 2010, Pai was one of 55 individuals nationwide chosen for the 2011 Marshall Memorial Fellowship, a leadership development initiative of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.

PCHAlliance has created an unmatched leadership event, bringing together the industry’s two leading events -- the Connected Health Conference (formerly the mHealth Summit) and the Partners Connected Health Symposium. This year’s theme, Balancing Technology and the Human Element, will showcase forward-thinking approaches and technologies that are driving integration of connected health into consumer health and care delivery. The 10th annual Connected Health Conference will take place October 17-19 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston.

GENERAL REGISTRATION: Please visit the CHC18 website for details and easy online registration.

MEDIA REGISTRATION: Please contact Gina Cella at 857-239-9198 or gcella@cellapr.com. Media can register online at the CHC18 website.

Personal Connected Health Alliance
The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance), a HIMSS innovation company, is focused on advancing digital health solutions to achieve better health, wellness and care delivery, accelerating technical, business, policy and social strategies necessary to advance personal connected health.

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SOURCE Personal Connected Health Alliance