Verizon union workers claimed safety violations by their fill-ins in New York as the East Coast telecom strike continued into its third week. Verizon meanwhile won an injunction to stop alleged acts of sabotage by the union workers represented by the Communications Workers of America. As the standoff continues, analysts told us they didn’t expect a big financial impact on Verizon unless the strike drags on for many more weeks. The telco had warned such effects were possible (see 1604210043).
With his city stuck with aging copper and no Fios, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner supported a New York state investigation into Verizon service quality and is considering municipal broadband options for her city. Last month, the New York Public Service Commission said it will examine the quality of Verizon’s legacy copper services and Verizon’s willingness to make upgrades to copper in areas where it hasn’t rolled out fiber (see 1603230044). The Democratic mayor also supported union workers in the East Coast strike against Verizon.
Wireless and automotive industry officials disagreed on the lifespan of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) service systems aimed at preventing road accidents. On an automotive panel at the Brooklyn 5G Summit, a Vodafone-sponsored professor said 5G will overtake DSRC systems, but a Toyota researcher said DSRC prevents crashes and will soon be widespread. Earlier, an AT&T official said he believes 4G still has a long life ahead even as AT&T begins 5G trials.
The Louisiana House unanimously passed a telehealth bill to remove the requirement that physicians be located within the state. The House voted 91-0 Wednesday to pass HB-570, two days after the state Senate passed a similar bill, SB-328. The legislature has until June 6 adjournment to agree on which bill to move forward. Teladoc supported both versions of the bill for removing the residency restriction and for being technology neutral (see 1604190011). The Alaska Legislature removed its own in-state restriction for telehealth last week (see 1604180054). State legislation on telehealth has ramped up year after year, said a Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) annual report released Thursday. “In the 2016 legislative session, forty-four states have introduced over 150 telehealth-related pieces of legislation,” it said. “Many bills address different aspects of reimbursement in regards to both private payers and Medicaid, with some bills making changes to existing reimbursement laws. Many states have also proposed legislation that would adopt the Federation of State Medical Board’s model language for an Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.” Some states continue to restrict and limit telehealth services, CCHP said. “No two states are alike in how telehealth is defined and regulated.” CCHP said 47 states have some form of reimbursement for telehealth, but Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Utah don't. The most commonly reimbursed form of telehealth is live video, it said. “However, what and how it is reimbursed varies widely. The spectrum ranges from a Medicaid program in a state like Connecticut, which will only reimburse for case management behavioral health services for clients under the age of eighteen, to states like California, which reimburses for live video across a wide variety of medical specialties.” Only nine states reimburse for store-and-forward services, in which clinical information like X-rays are stored and then forwarded to another site, because many states define telehealth as real-time, it said. Only 16 states reimburse for remote patient monitoring, the same number as in 2015, it said. On location, some states continue to restrict reimbursable telehealth to rural or underserved areas, but this is decreasing, CCHP said. Also, 23 states specify what sites can serve as an originating site for telehealth, it said.
A contested review of Verizon service quality in Pennsylvania will move forward, but as a formal complaint proceeding rather than as an investigation, the Public Utility Commission ruled Thursday. At the PUC’s open meeting, commissioners voted 3-2 to approve an order resolving a Verizon petition for interlocutory review. The telco had said an administrative law judge set an unlawful procedure for the copper investigation (see 1604120039), which was requested last year by the Communications Workers of America.
A magistrate judge recommended against dismissing Charter’s challenge of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission order asserting state authority over interconnected VoIP services. The report and recommendation (in Pacer) by U.S. Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer isn't an order or judgment, and parties may object to the recommendation within 14 days. The U.S. District Court in Minnesota can issue an order 14 days after objections and responses are filed.
Verizon is fighting possible new regulations in the District of Columbia following an investigation of the carrier’s copper infrastructure and transition to fiber. The telco Wednesday condemned copper abandonment and backup power rules proposed by D.C. Public Service Commission NPRMs. In one notice, published to the D.C. Register Friday, the commission proposed rules requiring notification by any telco planning to abandon its copper facilities. In another notice the same day, the PSC proposed rules requiring backup power for facilities that aren't line-powered, which copper is and fiber isn't. Meanwhile, Verizon continued its standoff with workers as unions entered the second week of their East Coast strike.
The Louisiana Senate unanimously passed a telehealth bill to remove the requirement that physicians be located within the state. The state Senate voted 34-0 Monday to pass SB-328 and send it to the House, one day after the Alaska Legislature passed Medicaid legislation that similarly removed in-state restrictions for telehealth (see 1604180054). Alaska and Louisiana were the last two states to have an in-state requirement. The Louisiana bill “ensures technology-neutral modalities for telemedicine, and it removes the onerous residency restriction,” Teladoc Vice President-Government Affairs Claudia Tucker said in an interview. The bill defines telehealth broadly to not exclude any current or future technologies to deliver telemedicine, she said. SB-328 now moves to the House, which is expected to consider a similar bill, HB-570, Wednesday. The Louisiana Legislature adjourns June 6, but the telehealth legislation could be passed before then, Tucker said. “They are moving at warp speed,” she said. “I’ve never seen a bill move out of committee as quickly as I saw [SB-328] get out of the Senate committee.” One obstacle to passage could be the State Board of Medical Examiners, which objected to removing the in-state requirement. Teladoc is pushing for telehealth legislation to enhance access in other states, Tucker said. The Missouri Legislature has a final floor vote this week on telehealth legislation, and the Michigan Senate has a floor vote this week, she said. Economic concerns are driving movement on state telehealth bills this year, Tucker said. “Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control ... and will continue to do so at an unsustainable rate.” And people want the greater access to care that is provided by telemedicine, she said.
Alaska passed telehealth legislation removing requirements that physicians be located within the state. The Louisiana Senate was scheduled to vote Monday on removing its own in-state requirement for physicians, and multiple other states have been looking at ways to increase access to telemedicine. And at a conference Monday in San Diego, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sought feedback on federal efforts to increase telehealth access.
Mobile backhaul company Siklu is in talks with several communities about municipal broadband projects in which it can install millimeter wave radios to wirelessly extend the reach of fiber, Director-Business Development Boris Maysel said in an interview. “There is a huge demand in municipal broadband,” Maysel said. “There is a deep understanding that broadband is the railways or airports of the 21st century, so they need to invest in broadband in order to retain businesses and attract new businesses.” Siklu’s model is to partner with a city and a private ISP responsible for operating the muni network, he said. Earlier this month, the company announced a muni broadband project in Santa Cruz, California, where it will connect radios to existing fiber from independent ISP Cruzio to provide 1 Gbps speeds wirelessly (see 1604050021). Siklu chose Santa Cruz after searching for a city with a service provider where it could “showcase” millimeter wave technology on top of an existing fiber network, Maysel said. Siklu plans to roll out its radios over the next 10 weeks to 17 locations in Santa Cruz, he said. The locations include public housing, community centers and business locations, and the wireless network will cover most of downtown, he said. It's Siklu’s first public-private partnership on muni broadband, and the company plans to unveil projects in additional communities soon, he said. Siklu uses millimeter wave technology to provide multi-gigabit speeds over wireless, which costs less than connecting fiber to each premise in the last mile. Millimeter wave takes advantage of large capacities at super-high frequencies. For example, from 57 to 64 GHz, there is 7 gigahertz of unlicensed spectrum, “which is more than all the unlicensed bands put together in lower frequencies,” Maysel said. The technology is free of interference due to the narrowness of the antennas, he said. The FCC is looking at ways to release more spectrum in the millimeter wave bands (see 1604130062).