Background

The Connect2HealthFCC Task Force’s platform Mapping Broadband Health in America allows users to visualize, intersect, and analyze broadband and health data at the national, state and county levels – informing policy and program prescriptions, future innovations, and investment decisions.

The previous platform release reflected an important expansion and update of the platform. In response to congressional requests, the Task Force added data on maternal health and drug abuse. Additionally, the platform provided more advanced visualizations and analytic functionalities. The updated architecture and methodology allowed users greater flexibility and control, as the broadband health space evolves.

This timely request spawned a consultative process with the CDC to identify maternal health data to incorporate into the mapping platform, in a way that enables meaningful visualizations and insights for stakeholders while maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of women. The resulting conceptual framework for visualizing broadband and maternal health data is discussed in Focus on Maternal Health (opens new window).

This current release consolidates the chronic disease, opioid, and maternal health modules into a single unified platform, and introduces new broadband and health data and critical risk factors; many of which were recommended by our government partners and stakeholders.

With this update, users can now select key maternal health risk factors (e.g., pre-pregnancy or gestational diabetes, pre-pregnancy or gestational hypertension, and pre-pregnancy obesity); cancer data; and new demographic, socioeconomic and community health filters (e.g., veteran status, food insecurity).

The platform incorporates broadband access and adoption data collected from the Commission’s Broadband Data Collection, along with mobile broadband access and device ownership data. Users can also filter data by counties that have received funding from the Commission’s Rural Health Care Program.

In releasing this update, we recognize the increasingly important role of broadband in health. For example, we are mindful that the U.S. is the only developed country with increasing maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity rates, and faces an increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, worsening mental health, and substance use disorders among women of reproductive age and pregnant women. Telehealth and other broadband-enabled solutions and technologies offer exciting potential and innovations for addressing preventable deaths and improving health.

Interact with and query the platform:

The Mapping Broadband Health in America platform provides an interactive experience, showing various pictures of the intersection between broadband connectivity and health for counties and states in the U.S. Users can generate customized maps that show broadband access, Internet adoption, and device ownership intersected with various health outcomes and risk factors in urban and rural areas.

These maps can be used by both public and private sectors, and local communities, to identify opportunities and gaps in connected care.

You can explore questions like:

  • What is the relationship between broadband connectivity and health?
  • Where can telehealth and other broadband-enabled solutions be leveraged now to address health in new and novel ways?
  • How do rural and urban areas compare on broadband connectivity and health?
  • Where do broadband connectivity and health needs coincide?
  • What is the broadband picture in access to care deserts?
  • Where are the gaps and opportunities for telehealth to lock in and increase gains in treating chronic conditions and mental health conditions – many of which are themselves risk factors for maternal health?
  • What is the maternal health, chronic disease, or opioids picture in higher vs. lower connectivity areas?
  • Where can existing broadband infrastructure be leveraged now – by policymakers, entrepreneurs, or other stakeholders – to help address physician shortages, high levels of maternal health need, or the ongoing opioid crisis?
  • Where do broadband infrastructure gaps and poor health outcomes coincide – both at the national and county level – in order to better target and prioritize marketplace solutions and private sector investment?

Key map features:

  • Interactive data visualization
  • Easily-accessible statistics about connectivity and health
  • Customizable geographic control that can be set to the county or state level
  • Isolate a particular state of interest
  • Filter counties by county categorization type (double burden, single burden, opportunity, milestone)
  • Unique URLs for each customized map to facilitate sharing and collaboration
  • Support of open government and open data initiatives through APIs and downloadable data sets

Potential benefits and uses:

  • The maps can help tailor investment and “right-size” public-private partnerships.
  • The maps will be a valuable tool for highlighting areas that might require special attention. They will help stakeholders identify the types of collaborations – public/private, network/applications, and outreach/education – that may be needed to improve connectivity and health.
  • For the FCC and other government agencies, the maps can be used to characterize regions, patterns, and gaps to inform policy, regulatory actions, or reforms.
  • For the private sector, the maps can identify areas where entrepreneurial opportunities for enabling consumer health through broadband exist now.
  • Local communities may find the maps helpful as they allocate resources and focus efforts on leveraging broadband connectivity for health.
  • Over time and with periodic data updates, the maps could also be used to assess continued progress in the connected health space.

Data sources:

The broadband access data in the platform comes from the Commission’s Broadband Data Collection program. The platform also includes Internet adoption data collection from the Commission's Form 477 data program (opens new window) program The broadband access data in the platform as of December 2022 and the Internet adoption data is as of June 2022. The Commission calculates broadband access statistics using U.S. Census Bureau block-level population and household estimates data.

Maternal and opioid-related mortality data is from CDC WONDER (opens new window) – the Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research – an integrated information and communication system for public health developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The severe maternal morbidity data come from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Fast Stats (opens new window) on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality website. Opioid prescriptions data comes from the CDC’s U.S. Opioid Dispensing Rate Maps (opens new window). The chronic disease data is drawn from the 2021 release of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Initiative County Health Rankings & Roadmap (opens new window) program (which reflects data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, American Medical Association, and other primary sources). Additional demographic data is from the U.S. Census Bureau, among other sources. Learn more about the data and methodology (opens new window).

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