Yesterday I attended the Minnesota Broadband Task Force. As always, the video has taken a while for met to upload – but here are my notes.

I thought the most interesting part of the meeting today came from the guys from MNIT. Bernadine Joselyn had asked how the Task Force could best support the work of the department. He said marketing.

It was an interesting perspective. His point being that to be most useful local residents must have access to the broadband they need to take part in online health initiatives. But when you talk about that aspect of telemedicine people seemed to get bogged down in technical details – such as DSL vs cable. But really the issue is we need enough broadband to support innovation.

From his perspective we need enough broadband to support innovation to keep people in their homes longer to save money and make them more comfortable. But he realized that broadband was capable of so much more. Broadband also facilitates education and business. But as he pointed out, education and business each resided in their own silo.

The Task Force is in a unique position to rise above silos and point out that what many segments of government and industries in the provide sector need is broadband to support innovation.

It was inspiring. And I hope it pushes the task force to really think about whether they are creating an environment for innovation or making policy recommendations to support the status quo.

10:00  – 10:15 Welcome by Minnesota  Department  of  Human  Services  Assistant  Commissioner  Loren Colman

We focus on use technology to maximize staff and patients’ comfort, which means staying home. Telepresence has been a big deal. We are all responsible for making sure that not only folks in St Paul, but also Kittson County have access to the infrastructure they need to avail of online health care services.

We have an online assessment tool and not being able to access that tool live has created problems.

Question: Minnesota has been a leader in home-based services for 25 years. Our task is to continue to lead. What can you share about the conditions from 25 years ago that allowed this agency and the state to be a leader?

One – Advocacy by family members of people with disabilities. They said we’re not willing to accept that my child will live in an institution

Two – Litigation – we had institutes throughout the state – but litigation said that’s not acceptable.

Three – Money – institutions were expensive. It’s less expensive to serve people in the community.

Four – Recognition that we know the age wave is coming at us. In about 2000, there was a long term care task force. We saw that the number of people over 65 would double. We couldn’t afford to have everyone live in a nursing home. (Although only 5-10 percent of population lives in a nursing home.) We had more beds per capita than any other state. And we challenged that. We built alternatives. And boomers started saying – I’m not going there.

We had some good elected and department leadership who said – we will build something difference for the future! But it was a commitment.

We spend $3.5 billion a year. The more we can find lower cost strategies to serve people the more successful we can be. People are getting older – but we’ve got a little time. Baby Boomers are turning 65 – but most don’t need support until about age 75. We need to plan for them (about 2020).

Vendors are introducing web-only tools. It’s the direction for quality care.

Question: So much of this is driven by federal policy. How do you find (from high level) that Washington is responding to innovation?

One – they are constantly throwing money at innovation. There is a high receptivity.

Two – they struggle with the unknowns. Health Info Technology, Electronic Health Records – they focus on the health care. We all struggle with how to connect long term care, mental health services, medical care with the use of technology. We need to find ways to help patients to stay at home – that means finding ways to monitor medicine and nutrition.

Three – The systems that have grown up with hospitals don’t’ talk to nursing facilities. SO getting that connection is more complicated than it needs to be. We’re working on it from different ends.

The feds are interested but cautious.

Demo

• You can have unlimited participants
• Everyone can setup their own view
• Accessible via nearly device
• Works on DSL, cable, Verizon Wireless, WiFi
• Most folks access via laptops but we’re seeing more devices
• Doctors prefer larger screen for better resolution/diagnosis
• This is HIPPA compliant – so more secure than Skype
• Recommended bandwidth – 1Mbps/1Mbps for one-to-one call

Question: Was cost an issue for pilot participants?

We were subsidizing during the pilot testing. But it will be an obstacle – especially in terms of broadband?

Question: Were participants able to talk to folks outside of healthcare staff?

We also encouraged folks to communicate with each other. We had grandparents talk to grandkids. The technology disappeared. The kids took to the technology naturally. The great grandmother was struggling with a mouse – until it became possible to talk to her kids.

The technology is getting more expensive. But there are still people who want to use outdated technology – due to legacy investments. That can hold back adoption.

Question: What can we do to help you advance this work?

I thought about marketing. If we promote telepresence, we find ourselves in technology conversations. We need to step this up to a higher level. We need to create a more compelling message. The Governor is asking for innovation in certain areas – but he’s not asking me.

Vidyo has won awards. They have facilitated Peer Innovator Networks too.

We are good at fragmenting our worlds – the Task Force is in a unique position to get folks to integrate efforts to make the case for the need for broadband.

There can be a 13 year lag between what we’re learning and what policy is doing. We need to find a way to be more agile.

It’s interesting to look at Finland. They are quite similar – same climate, 40,000 lakes. Similar demographics. They made a concerted effort to innovate – with their national innovation strategy. It would be interesting

Good book on innovation – The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley (2012).

Question – it would be helpful to hear about the roadblocks too. Maybe you could get involved with some of our subcommittee work.

Question – is this funded through MNIT?

The funding comes from DHS because it predates MNIT – but the staff comes from MNIT.

The hard part is marketing.

LUNCH

12:00  – 12:30 Bao Vang—Recap  of her  FCC  presentation

Bao Vang spoke to the FCC with others interested in broadband adoption. Specifically there were folks on her panel interested in schools, people with disabilities and veterans. The FCC was interested in adoption. The situation was not as expected. While Bao was asked to address 7-8 questions there was really only time to flesh out one.

12:30  – 1:30 Discuss  revised  subgroups  and  sign  ups/leads

Right now the Task Force has the following subgroups

1. Locations
2. State of Broadband
3. Monitor & Understand FCC & PUC/Cost of Broadband
4. Coordination among Government levels
5. Adoption
6. Mobile
7. Best Practices

There was talk about reducing the number to five by eliminating mobile until there is someone on broad to replace Bob Bass in leading the effort. There is still strong interest in the area – but the Task Force would like the in-house expertise to lead the effort if possible.

Also a decision was made to combine Monitor & Understand FCC & PUC/Cost of Broadband and Coordination among Government levels. Both leaders of the groups (Danna MacKenzie and Gary Evans) have suggested that the groups would work well together.

Next month the task force members will have an opportunity to sign up for a subgroup. Some subgroups may also be working on presenting their work plans. So the new list of subgroups is:

1. Locations
2. State of Broadband
3. Monitor & Understand FCC & PUC/Cost of Broadband & Coordination among Government levels
4. Adoption
5. Best Practices

1:30  – 1:45 Meeting  locations  and  events

The next meeting will be March 5 in the Twin Cities. It makes sense to stick around the Twin Cities until the end of the legislative sessions. Then the group may think about heading to Red Wing. Lake Lena or Windom.

Several Task Force members have spoken at various events – from legislative committee meetings to a recent MACTA meeting.

• 1:45  – 1:55 Legislative  update

Several topics came up:

• On a federal level Franken and Klobuchar talk to the FCC about spending the CAF money they had planned to spend. The Task Force decides to second that motion with their own letter.
• Sounds as if Representative Johnson and Senator Dill are interested in introducing broadband-related legislative. They may be working together.
• There has also been legislation related to rights of way and needed to get documentation on ROW when there is existing conduit.
• The Governor has recommended staff support to include two staff – one to have expertise in budget and modeling.

The Task Force decided that they would be willing to support and lobby for legislation that coincides with their recommendations but that no such legislation has yet been introduced. However folks are expecting something to come up before the March 5 meeting.

• 1:55  – 2:00 Wrap  Up/Adjourn

The Adoption subgroup has been looking at the Governor’s Dashboard (a work in progress) to see how broadband fits into the agenda. It clearly fit in the section that says 60 percent of Minnesotans use the Internet. The question is how can we make the number more engaging and more correct. It’s great to have a tool such as the dashboard to encourage people to measure success in various, yet specific and measurable ways, but we need to make sure we’re tracking the right thing.