The earnings report drew attention for the headline growth — revenue nearly doubled, adjusted EBITDA nearly tripled, and Starlink subscribers reached 12 million. The company's AI segment grew 247% and turned profitable on an adjusted basis for the first time. For most observers, the story is about capital spending: nearly $18.4 billion in the quarter, most of it in AI infrastructure.
For a health-focused audience, the more interesting thread runs through Starlink. Satellite internet reaches places that fiber and cable do not — rural communities, tribal lands, islands, and disaster zones. Those are often the same places where healthcare access is thinnest, and where a kidney stone patient may drive hours for a urology appointment.
Telehealth has become a standard option for follow-up visits, and reliable broadband is the prerequisite. A stone patient who can see a nephrologist or urologist remotely avoids travel, and a clinic that can run remote monitoring — urine test reminders, dietary check-ins, medication reviews — keeps patients engaged between visits. Satellite internet extends those capabilities to areas where they previously did not exist.
The research on dietary self-management in chronic kidney disease has consistently found that adherence is built on environment and support, not just knowledge. Connectivity is an environment-level intervention: it puts the care team, the lab results, and the educational materials in reach on a schedule that fits the patient's life.
While the infrastructure grows, the fundamentals remain low-tech. A marked water bottle, a measured food reference, and a standing appointment reminder are the highest-yield tools in stone prevention, and they work in any bandwidth. What connectivity adds is consistency — a video follow-up every three months beats a clinic visit every two years, and
For patients who live far from specialists, the care stack has four pieces. First, a primary care or telehealth bridge that orders the right labs — creatinine, eGFR, and a 24-hour urine collection — and shares results through a portal. Second, a video visit with a urologist or nephrologist on a schedule, typically every three to twelve months depending on stone type and recurrence. Third, a dietary reference that travels: the measured oxalate values for the foods eaten most, kept on a phone or in a small notebook. Fourth, a hydration target tracked simply, with urine color as the daily gauge.
Satellite internet improves the first two pieces by making video visits reliable in places where broadband was previously unavailable. The third and fourth pieces work offline, which is the point: the fundamentals do not depend on connectivity. A patient in a rural area can do everything that matters — test, review, adjust, hydrate — with a clinic that uses telehealth and a reference that works in the pocket.
The policy angle is worth watching too. As connectivity spreads, telehealth coverage and reimbursement rules determine whether rural patients actually get the visits. Medicare and many insurers expanded telehealth flexibilities during the pandemic and have kept much of that expansion. For stone patients in underserved areas, the combination of satellite coverage and telehealth coverage is
A practical checklist for the next appointment, remote or in person: ask for a 24-hour urine collection if you have not had one, confirm your fluid target in liters, request the stone analysis from your last episode if you have one, and ask how often your care team wants to see you given your stone type. Bringing those four items to the visit turns a routine appointment into a working plan. The connectivity that makes remote visits possible is valuable precisely because it makes that plan repeatable — and repetition is how prevention runs. For patients who do not have a specialist nearby, the checklist works even in a single video visit — the doctor can order the tests, review results in the portal, and set the next appointment, all without travel. The stack removes distance, and the fundamentals remove guesswork. Finally, a reminder that this kind of care is increasingly normal, not experimental: telehealth visits, patient portals, and remote follow-up are standard offerings at most health systems now. Asking for them is not a special request — it is using the tools the clinic already has, and for rural patients it may be the difference between regular monitoring and none. And as satellite coverage reaches more of the country, the set of patients who can use those tools keeps growing. The direction is clear: care is becoming location-independent, and the stone fundamentals — water, calcium, measured portions — become the constants that no bandwidth can change. In that sense, the satellite story is really a story about equity: the same standards of care, extended to more of the map. The map grows, and the fundamentals stay — which is the right kind of progress for kidney care. Every patient, wherever they live, deserves the same measured answers.
what turns access from a promise into a practice. a portal that shows lab trends beats a folder of paper reports.| Tool / Food | Value | Note | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water bottle (2L target) | — | Dilute urine is the top lever | Safe |
| Milk, cow's | 1 mg | Calcium binds oxalate | Safe |
| Bananas | 6 mg | Portable snack | Safe |
| Almonds | 107 mg | Portion tightly | Avoid |
| 24-hour urine test | — | Calibrates the plan | Safe |
Yes. Follow-up visits, lab review, and dietary counseling work well by video, and research on chronic kidney disease self-management emphasizes the value of regular contact. Satellite internet extends telehealth to rural areas where specialist access is limited.
Your latest lab results (or access to the portal), a list of current medications, your last stone analysis if you have one, and questions about your fluid target and dietary plan. The measured oxalate values for the foods you eat most are also useful.
Not directly. The relevance is indirect: growing satellite connectivity improves access to telehealth and remote monitoring in underserved areas, which supports kidney care. The dietary fundamentals — water, calcium, measured portions — remain unchanged.
See how oxalate values are measured and verified on our data methodology page.