Hook and Moorehead: Improving Native health through emerging technologies

Hook and Moorehead: Improving Native health through emerging technologies: "For years, much has been made of the ''digital divide'' in Native America - and with good cause. The percentage of Native homes lacking basic telephone, Internet, wireless and related information technology is much higher than that of the rest of America. This poses serious consequences for Native peoples and their standard of living.

In the area of telehealth, however, there are reasons to be hopeful. Telehealth services connect patients in remote areas with specialists in urban centers over the Internet and are available, to one degree or another, in all 12 administrative areas of the IHS. Telehealth is being extensively used in two areas of the United States, namely Alaska and the Navajo region, to provide health screenings, medical analysis and health services. "