Benton Institute for Broadband & Society reports…
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 – 1:00pm to 2:00pm (CST)Join us on June 17th at 2 PM ET for a webinar on how poor broadband access and adoption can impact healthcare access and outcomes. Available via the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s YouTube page, the webinar will also address policy and programmatic approaches to addressing the digital divide in healthcare.
Digital health applications—from tele-mental health services to remote patient monitoring to health portals—offer the promise of improving people’s access to healthcare. But in order to ensure that patients can benefit from advances in technology, they need robust, affordable internet connections, devices, and the skills to use these technologies safely.
Dr. Revati Prasad, Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, will moderate a discussion with:
- Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinician-investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
The Benton Institute is proud to support Dr. Rodriguez’s work on the Digital Access Coordinator (DAC) program, which embeds digital navigators within primary care teams, trains them to support non-English speakers, and expands outreach through community-based programs. The webinar will mark the launch of a playbook developed by Dr. Rodriguez and his collaborators for other healthcare organizations interested in implementing similar programs.
- Sara Raza, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Clinical Fellow, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
Raza is exploring how policy and legal frameworks help—or hinder—efforts to close the broadband healthcare gap, especially in rural areas. Recognizing broadband as a super social determinant of health, Raza is analyzing funding streams for healthcare delivery via broadband and exploring the barriers that prevent healthcare providers and insurers from expanding access to digital care.
- Dr. Erezi Ogbo-Gebhardt, Benton Opportunity Fund Fellow and Assistant Professor in Information Science at North Carolina Central University
Dr. Ogbo-Gebhardt is a nationally recognized digital inclusion scholar. She investigates the socio-economic and socio-technological factors that impact broadband and digital technology acceptance, use, and impact of use, predominantly among marginalized populations and communities often underrepresented in technology research. Her recent work has focused on disparities in health-related internet uses and how these disparities changed since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Sarah Jane Tribble, Lead Reporter, Rural Health News, KFF Health News
Tribble has been reporting on how the lack of quality broadband hampers healthcare in rural settings. Her investigation of “Dead Zones” found that nearly three million people live in rural counties where in-person care is extremely limited and telehealth is largely out of reach. Her reporting has demonstrated the real-world impacts of the digital divide on rural residents waiting for better broadband.
Tune in to understand the evolving role of broadband in clinical care, the barriers patients face in accessing digital health tools, and strategies for building culturally and linguistically responsive digital navigation programs.
Watch the webinar on YouTube. Please RSVP below to receive updates and reminders.