Tag Archives: coronavirus

Can better broadband help girls in rural MN become better math students?

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MinnPost reports…

Minnesota girls’ math skills fell nearly half a grade level behind boys in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis of standardized test scores.

The Associated Press looked at average test scores for third through eighth graders across 15 years in over 5,000 school districts in 33 states, compiled by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University.

Across the country, the analysis shows that schools have lost ground since the pandemic following a decade in which educators had nearly closed the gender gap between girls and boys on math scores. While boys’ scores also suffered during COVID, they have recovered faster than girls’ scores. The widening gender gap in Minnesota was among the largest nationwide, equivalent to 43% of a grade level.

It turns out the situation may be worse for girls in rural Minnesota. There is the issue of broadband access…

When schools closed for the pandemic, districts had to focus on making remote learning work.

“Schools were more concerned with the logistics of getting kids on the right application and in the right Zoom room,or getting them to stay at their computers for the whole day, or even helping students and teachers find stable internet, especially in rural areas,” said Kondo, the education professor at St. Catherine University.

Also, there is the issue of girls not seeing themselves in STEM jobs…

Osakis superintendent Dahlheimer also notes that there are cultural aspects of rural Minnesota that make it more difficult to achieve his goal of creating long-term partnerships with businesses that can offer female STEM workers as role models for his district’s students.

“There are less STEM jobs out here. That may change with remote working, but for now, most homes are single-earner homes, and the person working is the husband, the father,” leading to a dearth of women whom girls can see thriving in STEM fields.

The numbers support the lack of role models in the workforce…

In Minnesota, only 26% of STEM workers are female, and only 11% are people of color, Brown said.

Obviously, better broadband would help the access issue. But it also seems that better broadband would support remote work, which would support mothers working (even part time) remotely in all fields, including STEM. Also with better broadband, girls in rural areas can more easily be introduced or even develop mentorships with women working in STEM in rural, suburban and urban areas.

There are some exceptions and I want to give a nod to Iron Rang Engineering’s #Night Program, which turned 10 last February. Here’s more info from their website…

Engineering outreach is a large aspect of Iron Range Engineering because we believe in giving back to our community. #Night is all about empowering young women to know that they can choose a career in engineering if they want to. Having more women in engineering will lead to better and more innovative ideas for solving the world’s problems.

FCC introduces a ruling that would jeopardize funding for Wi-Fi on school buses

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Telecompetitor reports…

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr yesterday introduced a declarative ruling that would reverse the decisions that enabled use of E-Rate funding to provide Wi-Fi on school buses. He also circulated an order for FCC reconsideration, which would end funding for Wi-Fi hotspots for children or library patrons for use outside of schools and libraries.

The press release announcing the moves says that the extension of the COVID-19 era rules exceeded the FCC’s authority. Carr also claimed the programs had a record of “poor stewardship of scarce funds, and invited waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Expansion of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Schools and Libraries program — also known as the E-Rate program — was approved by the FCC in July 2024.

Carr said expanding the E-Rate program after the pandemic was “in plain violation of the limits Congress imposed on the FCC’s authority. Indeed, the prior FCC eliminated many of the safeguards that Congress placed on those programs. The FCC also failed to demonstrate that these funding decisions would advance legitimate classroom or library purposes.”

Proponents of the added flexibility considered it part of the evolution of libraries. Larra Clark — the Deputy Director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Policy and Advocacy Office and Deputy Director of the Public Library Association — told Telecompetitor in August 2024 that libraries can be enablers that help bring the benefits of the internet to more people.

Testing of school bus Wi-Fi by Google in 2018 yielded positive results.

The news of the FCC ruling elicited immediate reaction.

Broadband access associated with fewer COVID cases and deaths

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Recent research from the University of Michigan reports…

The mortality rate from COVID-19 was about 50% lower in U.S. counties with higher internet access in the summer and early fall of 2020.

A new University of Michigan study found that broadband connection was a key factor in reducing mortality and incidence during the early months of the pandemic. The average county with high internet access had 48%-53% fewer new COVID-19 deaths and 19%-34% fewer new COVID deaths per 100,000 residents than the average county with low internet access.

It looks as broadband as a lifeline…

The study adds to growing evidence that internet access is a critical “social determinant of health,” especially during public health crises. In 2020, broadband served as a lifeline, enabling access to up-to-date information on protective measures like masking, social distancing and recognizing symptoms.

Despite the internet’s reputation for spreading misinformation, Allen’s study highlights its overall positive impact during the pandemic—linking it to lower COVID-19 cases and death rates. The internet facilitated remote work, reduced exposure to crowded spaces and enabled timely medical care. It also allowed millions to adapt quickly to online work, education, telehealth and social connections.

Looks like the researcher may dig deeper into role of broadband in health efficacy…

For the researcher, very few studies examine the relationship between internet access and health outcomes, not just COVID-19. To explore this relationship further, Allen is developing a project using U.S. mortality data from before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to determine whether the link between internet access and mortality is unique to the pandemic or has existed over a longer period,” he said.

Senator Smith working on Expanded Telehealth Access Act

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Senator Smith’s website reports…

U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Steve Daines (R-MT) reintroduced their bipartisan Expanded Telehealth Access Act to make pandemic-driven expanded access to certain telehealth services under Medicare permanent. …

To help reduce risks associated with visiting medical providers during the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the types of health care providers who receive reimbursement for telehealth services. The Expanded Telehealth Access Act makes permanent the reimbursement eligibility for physical therapists, audiologists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists and permits the Secretary of Health and Human services to expand this list.

Land O’Lakes continues to work to bring better broadband to rural areas

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It’s great to see Minnesota’s own Land O’Lakes getting recognition for their continued work on the expanding broadband to rural areas. Fierce Telecom profiled their work…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 22.3% of Americans in rural areas lack coverage from fixed terrestrial 25/3 Mbps broadband, as compared to only 1.5% of Americans in urban areas – a gap that was deeply felt during the COVID pandemic and continues to widen as more business, education and healthcare rely on connectivity.

During the height of COVID, Land O’Lakes expedited its budding plans to help close the broadband access gap in rural America, said Tina May, VP of rural services.

As a cooperative owned by around 1,700 farmers, Land O’Lakes is situated in over 10,000 rural communities in the U.S., touching about half of the harvested acres in the country.

They mentioned their member-drive, COVID-inspired, Wi-Fi hotspots for local residents…

In 2020 Land O’Lakes collaborated with local partners in rural, low-access areas to set up free Wi-Fi in parking lots. One of those partners, Tractor Supply Company, still offers Wi-Fi in some of its locations. …

While not all Land O’Lakes’ COVID-era Wi-Fi spots are up and functioning anymore (“in a post-COVID environment, it wasn’t as necessary,” May said), the ACP still has free, public Wi-Fi available at more than 3,000 locations across the U.S.

Land O’Lakes has a map of those locations on its website.

They mention the American Connection Project and Lead for America…

As part of the ACP, Land O’Lakes set up the American Connection Project Policy Coalition, a 175-member coalition of businesses and advocates. According to May, the coalition had a hand in the passing of the $65 billion Bipartisan infrastructure Bill of November 2021.

Led in conjunction with Lead for America (LFA), the ACP in April 2021 also set up American Connection Corps, an ACP fellowship connecting locals to their hometown broadband efforts for a two-year paid program. During the program fellows are set up with local offices and taught skills such as grant writing, advocacy and community organizing.

And the American Connection Corps…

The American Connection Corps has paired up with a number of state broadband offices, many of which were set up in preparation for BEAD allocations. Land O’Lakes will be graduating its first 50 fellows soon, May said, and has a new cohort ready to start in August – which will include 105 fellows across 34 states.

So far, fellows belonging to the program have won 88 grants totaling over $45 million, with more than 50 permanent broadband infrastructure installations completed. One fellow in Gage County, Nebraska was responsible for organizing a $11 million grant for his community.

8 Policy Recommendations to improve digital access and equity

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The FCC looked at provisions made during the COVID 19 pandemic online as quickly as possible. Then they asked the Community Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) to look at what worked and what didn’t and make recommendations moving forward…

Recommendations from Public Convening

  1. The federal government should continue the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).
  2. There should be greater outreach efforts to educate families about the benefits of the ACP. Those outreach efforts should include many more languages than English.
  3. Make it easier for families to enroll in the ACP.
  4. Broadband service providers can implement their own low-cost broadband service programs with quality service and comparable speeds as high-income households and provide broadband connectivity centers within communities.
  5. Non-profit organizations, and community anchor institutions (such as libraries) can develop Wi-Fi centers within local communities funded by the federal, state, local government and/or in partnership with industry.
  6. To identify and overcome the challenges to broadband adoption, affordability, and greater participation in digital literacy skills training programs, broadband service providers and federal and state governments must collaborate and leverage the trusted relationships that anchor institutions have with their local communities.
  7. To develop broadband adoption and digital literacy skills training on a national scale, the non-profit and private sectors need to develop best practices for more broader collaboration.
  8. The federal government must ensure states receive funds to develop their digital equity plans

Study shows Minnesotans happy with telehealth – but barrier exist – such as no broadband

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The Minnesota Department of Health reports…

A new study produced by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) highlights the potential for telehealth to make care more accessible while providing similar levels of service to traditional, in-person ways of delivering care. Telehealth is the use of electronic or telecommunications technology to access health care remotely. …

The preliminary report’s findings, which focus on Minnesotans with private health insurance coverage, show that the use of telehealth increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data also showed that most patients receiving telehealth services were satisfied with their experience. Overall, about 80% of Minnesotans surveyed by MDH during the study period were satisfied with the telehealth services they received, regardless of whether it was a video or audio visit. In addition, the study found telehealth has the potential to increase access to health care by removing barriers like transportation and the need to arrange child care.

There’s a special nod to increased mental health access…

Telehealth’s impact has been particularly strong in expanding access to mental and behavioral health providers. During the first half of 2021, about 60% of all mental and behavioral health services were delivered through telehealth. This finding is especially important for improving access to care for residents of Greater Minnesota, where telehealth has the potential to fill provider coverage gaps that make attaining care especially challenging.

But access to telehealth is not equitable…

The report does note several equity issues to consider with telehealth. For instance, some providers reported challenges in ensuring adequate support for patients whose first language is not English. In addition, while patient satisfaction with telehealth was positive overall, it was somewhat lower for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) Minnesotans. Communities that face disproportionate inequities in digital access and affordability, or comfort in using digital technology, face barriers to telehealth access. Still, telehealth provides opportunities to address disparities compared to in-person care, particularly the potential for connecting culturally or linguistically “matched” provider and client pairs without the barrier of physical distance.

Telehealth not as prevalent in rural MN – due to broadband issues

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The Post Bulletin reports…

Between 2019 and 2022, MDH found that telehealth use among most categories of health care providers grew. Among Minnesota’s physicians, for example, 64% report using telehealth at least some of the time in 2022, compared to 32% in 2019. Mental health providers saw the biggest jump in telehealth use, with 80% of those providers using telehealth some of the time versus 21% in 2019.

But that uptick isn’t evenly distributed between rural and urban patients. Per MDH’s 2021 Minnesota Health Access Survey, rural Minnesotans were less likely to use video or telephone visits than urban residents.

“It’s really hard to characterize the penetration of telehealth, but by almost every measure … people in urban areas used more telehealth during the pandemic and continue to this day to use more telehealth than folks who live in rural areas,” said Jonathan Neufeld, director of the Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center, based at the University of Minnesota.

Why?

The answer, according to Neufeld, is nuanced. A mix of post-pandemic preferences, internet access and provider availability all come into play when a patient decides whether or not to see their doctor from their living room — or if that option is available at all.

Broadband is a big issue…

MDH’s Minnesota Health Access Survey found that almost 20% of rural Minnesotans don’t have access to internet reliable enough for a video visit. This lack of internet access is an acute issue for rural medical providers. At Gundersen St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Wabasha, clinical social worker Mindy Wise sees it firsthand.

“It’d be great if everybody had internet access at fair and reasonable costs, especially for the senior group,” Wise said. “The budget can be a difficult thing for some people.”

Providers ran into similar problems at Zumbro Valley Health Center. Heather Geerts, ZVHC director of clinical services, said even if patients have a cell phone, limited data can make a telehealth visit less desirable.

New COVID-19 telehealth test-to-treat program in MN

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KARE 11 reports…

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced a new COVID-19 telehealth test-to-treat program Monday that ensures anyone who tests positive for the virus will have access to clinician care and therapeutic treatments to reduce the risk of serious illness or hospitalization.

All of the services provided through the pilot program including the consultation, medication and delivery, will come at no cost.

According to a press release from MDH, the state’s pilot program works with both at-home and lab COVID-19 tests regardless of brand.

The department says Minnesotans who test positive for COVID-19 can download the Cue Health app to schedule a virtual consultation with a licensed clinician who will determine if therapeutic treatment is a good option.

If the clinician determines that if the infected person is a good candidate for therapeutics, the clinician can issue that prescription to the patient’s local pharmacy.

Who telecommuted during COVID and what does that tell us about future use in Minnesota?

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The West Central Tribune reports…

A new study from University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Department of Transportation offers the most comprehensive look to date at how telecommuting in Minnesota has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

In 2020, Minnesota saw a pivotal shift in the number of people working from home due to the pandemic. MnDOT wanted to capture Minnesota-specific data to understand who is working from home, how it is going, and what the future might look like.

Findings:

  • While the image of an average telecommuter tends to skew young, Extension researchers found that Baby Boomers — the oldest among workers — telecommuted the most. The researchers surveyed more than 1,200 Minnesota employees and employers, in addition to conducting focus groups.
  • Looking forward, the state can expect the greatest levels of telecommuting from people with longer commutes, two-year college degrees and metro-area homes. The data serves as a snapshot in time; it has evolved since 2021 and will continue to change.
  • Whereas three-quarters of employees reported that their organizations will allow teleworking at least part-time post-COVID, not all employers are on board. Nearly a quarter of surveyed employers oppose all but the most minimal telecommuting going forward, even if work allows for it.
  • Greater Minnesota respondents were more likely to telecommute no more than one day a week post-pandemic, while Twin Cities respondents were more likely to telecommute two to three days a week. However, there was no difference between Greater Minnesota and the metro area if respondents were likely to commute four to five days a week.
  • People with children at home are more likely to have formal post-pandemic telecommuting agreements with their employers.
  • Roughly a quarter of employers may recruit completely remote talent from outside of Minnesota.

Hospital at Home Programs gaining popularity

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Minnesota Monthly reports…

Rachel Riedesel, population health manager at Allina Health, was in her final year of the Masters of Healthcare Administration program at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in 2019. For her team capstone project, she partnered with leaders at Allina Health to design a program that would allow patients to receive hospital care in the comfort of their homes.

At the time, funding models and abundant hospital capacity meant there was little urgency to implement the program. All that changed when the pandemic hit. By then, Riedesel was working at Allina Health in the hub of the system’s COVID-19-related activity. “This came forward as an opportunity to increase hospital capacity while we were trying to serve our community and their needs,” Riedesel says. The Hospital at Home plan she had previously worked on was put in motion. “We were able to deploy the program in less than a month because of the plans we’d already prepared.”

Instead of being checked into the hospital, patients who participate in the program are sent home with biometric monitoring equipment. The kit includes a tablet, blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter, and thermometer—all Bluetooth-enabled. Patients are continuously monitored, and their data is sent to a centralized nursing hub along with personalized parameters. If their biometric markers go outside of a preset zone, nurses are alerted to check on them. If needed, a nurse, physician, or paramedic may also be dispatched to the patient’s home. “We have an escalation process in place to ensure the patient is safe,” Riedesel says.

Allina’s program is now one of the fastest growing Hospital at Home programs in the country. To date, it has served roughly 3,700 patients in the Twin Cities metro and a few regional areas throughout the state. When the program started, 60% to 70% of the Hospital at Home patients were COVID-19-positive. In 2022, it’s closer to 40%. The bulk of the patients are now being treated primarily for other conditions, such as sepsis, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and post-surgery recovery.

“We continue to see equal- or better-quality outcomes for people who get to recover in their homes, with their loved ones,” Riedesel says. While in-patient hospital care is necessary for some acute conditions, hospitals are not without risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates hospital-acquired infections account for 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths each year. “We want to make sure we’re providing the safest care in the safest place, and that can often be the patient’s home,” Riedesel says.

Telehealth visits a boon to vets with opioid addiction

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It’s hard to compare the last two years with anything before, given the impact of COVID but even given that difference (or maybe because of it) the stats on veterans in recovery and their use of technology. Southern Minn reports…

There are many obstacles to opioid addiction treatment, but a new study shows one that one outgrowth of the COVID pandemic — telehealth — is enabling more U.S. veterans to get help.

Researchers examined care given to vets before and after a transition to telehealth visits in early 2020 for treatment of their opioid use disorder. Telehealth for patients receiving the prescription drug buphrenorphine to treat opioid dependence was relatively new in the Veterans Affairs health system before the pandemic, said lead author Dr. Allison Lin.

“The rapid switch to virtual visits for most patients kept people from dropping out of care, and telephone visits [also] played a key role,” said Lin, an addiction psychiatrist at the Ann Arbor VA in Michigan and investigator at the VA Center for Clinical Management Research.

In 2020, phone appointments significantly outnumbered video and in-person visits, the study found. Even in early 2021, phone visits made up 50% of monthly visits for vets using buprenorphine; video visits, 32%; and in-person care, 17%.

Compared to March 2019, on a monthly basis there was a 14% increase in number of vets receiving buphrenorphine treatment in February of last year. Over that same period, 6% fewer vets overall received any kind of addiction treatment.

Being online helps learn about and access some activities for older adults in rural Minnesota

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MinnPost reports…

Social well-being is essential to good health. Yet, as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the country and upended social routines, supporting social well-being became even more challenging, including in rural areas. Social well-being was impacted most directly by the need to socially distance and isolate, and many people moved some or all their social activity online. However, this proved more challenging in rural areas, where broadband connectivity is less available and devices are less omnipresent, and for older adults, who generally report lower use of online technology than their younger counterparts.

In an April, 2022 report released by AP and NORC at the University of Chicago, rural adults age 50 and older reported the lowest level of satisfaction with available social activities in their community (only 38% thought the area they lived in was doing a good job at providing social activities, compared with 52% in urban areas and 55% in suburban areas, despite the fact that older adults make up a disproportionate share of rural residents). The survey also showed that rural residents reported lower satisfaction with transportation and availability of services to help them age in their own homes, compared with their urban and suburban counterparts.

They looked at the impact of broadband access and info…

We researched social opportunities in all 60 non-metropolitan counties in Minnesota, focusing most on those geared toward older adults. We found ample opportunities, but also variation between counties. Most – but not all – counties offer some combination of social infrastructure, including public libraries, senior centers, farmer’s markets, faith-based organizations (notably mostly Christian churches), American Legions and/or VFWs, and public parks. For some, there were community arts centers and hobby groups (e.g., quilting, fitness classes, bee keeping, cards, gardening, community theater, movie nights, bingo, photography, fishing, art classes, wine tasting, book clubs).

Some counties and communities made it easy to find opportunities online. For example, the Todd County website listed a variety of opportunities and social infrastructure resources in an accessible, user-friendly fashion. This is good for residents looking for new ways to connect with each other, but is also important for loved ones who live out of town and are trying to find opportunities for those they care about. Many counties also have local news sources through which activities and events can be shared, although the availability and independence of those has decreased nationally in recent years, potentially making it more difficult to share local social opportunities.

Other counties and communities were much more opaque about social opportunities for older adults. Either the opportunities don’t exist, or, more likely, they organize by word of mouth or other forums. That begs the question, who might that be leaving out? How would newcomers to communities learn about social opportunities and connections, and how can out-of-town loved ones help their family members find ways to connect?

Three data points to help plan for IIJA broadband funding

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The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society has come out with a helpful help report on three data points that will help plan for Infrastructure Investment and Job Acts Broadband Funding. Here are their three points…

As policymakers begin to plan how to use Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds to increase broadband connectivity, there are three important data points from two recent surveys to keep in mind:

  1. Some 32% of households are subscription vulnerable, that is, they struggle to maintain service and have a very difficult time affording service.
  2. Only 18% of cellphone-only respondents were “very satisfied” with their online access for activities such as school or work, activities that moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. Some 35% of households with no internet connectivity were largely unable to use outside resources (e.g., friends or community organizations) for “proxy” internet use during the pandemic.

These data points offer “do’s” and “don’ts” for broadband planners and other decisionmakers:

  • Do not think that getting people online is a one-time transaction; prepare for the long-term to provide resources to keep people online.

  • Do not expect those relying only on smartphones to effectively engage online with educational or health resources; have laptop or tablet computer distribution programs in place.

  • Do not underestimate the challenge, given how many low-income people have very limited internet experience; prepare to provide them with one-on-one help.

Telehealth Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries Multiplied by 88 during the Pandemic

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Internet Innovation reports..

Medicare beneficiaries completed 54.5 million virtual office visits in 2020, according to a new federal report released by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. The analysis considers Medicare fee-for-service claims data and Medicare Advantage encounter data from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021, and from March 1, 2019, to Feb. 29, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused telehealth use to skyrocket. Medicare beneficiaries used 114.4 million telehealth services from March 2020 to February 2021, which is 88 times the use of these services by this population the year prior.

From March 2020 through February 2021, 43 percent of Medicare’s 66 million beneficiaries – more than 28 million people enrolled in Medicare – used a telehealth service. Prior to the pandemic, just one percent of beneficiaries used telehealth.