What You Need to Know:
– FCC approves the fourth set of 13 COVID-19 telehealth program providers, totaling $4.2M in funding.
– To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program has funded 30 health care providers in 16 states for a total of $13.7 million in funding.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau approved an additional 13 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, totaling $4.2M in funding. The third set of providers will support some of the hardest-hit areas like California and Maryland to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program has funded 11 health care providers in 16 states for a total of $13.7M in funding.
Here is the fourth list of approved healthcare providers that were awarded funding:
Augusta University Medical Center, in Augusta, Georgia, was awarded $113,744 to expand its ultraportable ultrasound program to differentiate and screen COVID-19 patients for different types of respiratory diseases prior to hospital admittance.
Children’s Hospital Colorado, in Aurora, Colorado, with 14 locations throughout the state, was awarded $807,090 to implement telehealth services to provide continuity of medical care for children, adolescents, and young adults with complex pediatric illnesses in the Rocky Mountain region.
Country Doctor Community Health Centers, in Seattle, Washington, was awarded $392,770 to serve its low income, high-risk, and vulnerable patient population by building its telehealth capacity and online screening functionality to triage COVID-19 patients remotely, while also leveraging telehealth to treat patients with chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, pulmonary disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
Greene County General Hospital, in Linton, Indiana, was awarded $60,480 to expand its mobile telehealth capacity to ensure continued care to its patients, including its senior patient population, that have been displaced by the emergency COVID-19 response within its current facilities.
The Institute for Family Health, in New Paltz, New York, one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Center networks in New York State, with locations in medically underserved communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, was awarded $729,118 for 16 of its community health centers, including group homes for the developmentally disabled, to provide telehealth visits for primary medical and preventive care, mental health care, and care management services for patients of all ages.
Lancaster Health Center, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was awarded $75,710 to expand telehealth capacity to screen and treat COVID-19 patients, and manage care for patients at risk of severe complications if exposed to COVID-19, including care for its migrant patient population with high poverty rates and older patients with pre-existing conditions.
Loudoun Community Health Center T/A HealthWorks for Northern Virginia, in Leesburg, Virginia, was awarded $93,380 to expand its video telehealth services to identify COVID-19 patients remotely and provide remote patient care.
Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, was awarded $1,000,000 to implement video telehealth services and remote patient monitoring across its Midwest presence of over 50 communities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, to minimize exposure and slow further spread of the COVID-19 virus while maintaining patient care and monitoring standards.
McLaren Health Care Corporation, in Grand Blanc, Michigan, was awarded $626,328 for 12 health care provider sites to enhance telehealth connectivity across Michigan, in order to provide safe high-quality care to patients, including high risk and vulnerable patients at the Karmanos Cancer Center, and to decrease the exposure to all health care providers using multiple telehealth platforms and devices.
New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center, in Jamaica, New York, with two sites in the Bronx and Brooklyn, was awarded $126,799 to implement telehealth to serve low-income and at-risk patients struggling with mental health issues, in order to reduce 911 calls and emergency room visits, and expedite post-hospital discharge to free up space in New York City’s hospital system.
Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation, in New Hyde Park, New York, was awarded $97,965 for telehealth services and connected devices, including remote monitoring devices, to care for the elderly and chronically ill in its 527-bed skilled nursing facility and rehabilitation center specializing in the care of older adults.
Service Program for Older People, Inc., in New York, New York, was awarded $26,180 to implement telehealth services to provide comprehensive mental health services to adults age 55 and older, who are at high risk for COVID-19 due to age, medical frailty, and isolation, and in order to avert unnecessary emergency room visits.
Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc., in Alamosa, Colorado, was awarded $46,437 to implement video telehealth services to provide virtual health visits for COVID-19 screening and primary medical care to its vulnerable low-income and elderly patients.
COVID-19 Telehealth Program Overview
The $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program would immediately support healthcare providers responding to the pandemic by providing eligible healthcare providers support to purchase telecommunications services, information services, and devices necessary to enable the provision of telehealth services during this emergency period. It would provide selected applicants with full funding for these eligible telehealth services and devices. In order to receive funding, eligible healthcare providers would submit a streamlined application to the Commission for this program, and the Commission would award funds to selected applicants on a rolling basis until the funds are exhausted or until the current pandemic has ended.
