HOST and FCC promote telemedicine standards

HOST and FCC promote telemedicine standards

The lack of telemedicine standards is often cited as one of the main barriers to expansion of the specialty. On July 17 in Washington, DC, the HOST consortium and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will bring together members of standards-developing organizations, government agencies, vendors, and healthcare providers to promote standards for open-architecture telemedicine systems.

"Since HOST was created to promote the deployment of open-architecture healthcare systems, and the FCC wants to encourage the adoption of standards in general, our cooperation makes a lot of sense," said Lewis Lorton, executive director of HOST, a nonprofit consortium created in 1994.

The Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women's Health, and the Federal Interagency Joint Working Group on Telemedicine are collaborating in the meeting, which will feature a keynote address from FCC chairman Reed Hundt. Other presentations will focus on obstacles to the diffusion of telemedicine, and breakout groups will discuss specific problem areas.

Telemedicine equipment vendors, healthcare and telemedicine providers, governmental agencies, and the public are invited. For more information, visit HOST's Web site at www.hostnet.org.