Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
The FCC is rolling out a revamped map showing where internet access can improve maternal health care, the agency told Axios.
Why it matters: The U.S. has the highest level of maternal mortality of any developed country, and having reliable internet access can help people communicate with their providers, schedule appointments and obtain mental health support.
- Those tools can be especially beneficial for people in rural communities who are far from hospitals.
State of play: The map shows the intersection of where Americans lack internet access and where health problems are most severe, informing policymakers and industry player decisions on where to invest and deploy resources.
- FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel will announce the new map during a monthly meeting on Thursday, and the map will launch this fall.
- It adds data on gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension and pre-pregnancy obesity.
- It also adds variables on infant mortality rate, low birth rate, preterm birth and breast cancer.
Catch up quick: The map already showed data on maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, race, ethnicity, maternal age, maternity care deserts, mental health provider shortage areas and rurality.
- This was required under The Data Mapping to Save Moms' Lives Act.
The map also now reflects the FCC's ongoing effort to make internet mapping more accurate and does not consider slow internet connection as real access.
- It reflects who has internet access through their phones, a factor the FCC says is important because pregnant people need both mobile and fixed broadband.
- For example, remote glucometers and fetal heart rate monitors require fixed and mobile to ensure continuous data transmission.
What they're saying: "This is an issue that matters to me both professionally and personally, as the first woman to permanently lead the FCC and also the first mother to do so," Rosenworcel said in a letter, shared first with Axios, to the lawmakers behind the The Data Mapping to Save Moms' Lives Act of 2022.
- "The United States should not be a place where an individual with a high-risk pregnancy, whose closest hospital birthing unit is hours away, has to travel several times a month for in-person appointments when a viable technological alternative exists at the other end of a broadband connection."
