How the digital divide in rural communities affects health care

Published September 5, 2023 at 4:01 AM EDT

Rural areas often have longer distances to travel for health care - and less access to high-speed internet. — Rural areas often have longer distances to travel for health care — and less access to high-speed internet.

Rural communities with fewer local doctors — and longer distances to travel for hospital care — also generally have limited high-speed internet service.

And that can make it more difficult for rural patients to use telehealth.

On Cincinnati Edition, we talk about the digital divide for health care.

We discuss the challenges it presents for families, and what government agencies and health care providers are doing to try to address the problem.

Guests:

Diego Cuadros, associate professor in digital epidemiology at Digital Futures at the University of Cincinnati
Dr. Holly Binnig, chief medical officer at HealthSource of Ohio

The University of Cincinnati is a financial supporter of Cincinnati Public Radio.

Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.

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Updated: September 4, 2023 at 12:18 PM EDT

This segment first aired on April 26, 2023.