The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau today approved an additional 67 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Healthcare providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $16.87M in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic. To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the CARES Act, has approved funding for 305 healthcare providers in 42 states plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $104.98 million in funding.
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.
Here is the latest list of approved healthcare providers that were awarded funding today:
- Access Community Health Centers, in Madison, Wisconsin, was awarded $92,323 for laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment, and a telehealth platform subscription to offer real-time video for patient telehealth visits and to continue providing both routine and emergency care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Access Community Health Network, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $130,401 for desktop computers, a video telehealth platform, video monitors, and other telehealth equipment to expand the types and amount of telehealth visits offered to patients for primary care services and behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Albert Einstein Medical Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $315,357 for a triage software license, a telehealth platform, laptop computers, tablets, videoconferencing equipment and software licenses, and a remote patient monitoring platform to serve a patient population at increased risk for adverse outcomes from COVID-19 infection and to help triage the busiest emergency department in the city.
- Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, in Los Angeles, California, was awarded $295,215 for telemedicine carts, desktop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, videoconferencing software licenses, and network upgrades to allow care to be provided for the entire patient population virtually, including high-risk and vulnerable patients in chronic care management services who are vulnerable to COVID-19.
- Atlantic General Hospital, in Berlin, Maryland, was awarded $51,425 for a telehealth platform subscription and telehealth equipment that will allow patients to keep medical appointments, obtain additional care and treatment from 45 primary and specialty providers, and screen for potential COVID-19 symptoms, all from their home.
- Aultman Hospital, in Canton, Ohio, was awarded $294,749 for a telehealth platform, desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile hotspots, network upgrades, and telehealth equipment so patients can access medical care on any smartphone, tablet or computer, and receive COVID-19 care, urgent, behavioral, and primary care, and other services, including the ability for one-on-one communication with an experienced, board-certified physician.
- Bayside Clinic, in Anahuac, Texas, was awarded $399,038 for a mobile health care kiosk, laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to increase remote work capabilities for medical staff and to provide on-demand virtual care with video and remote diagnostic equipment that allows a patient to present remotely to different clinic locations depending on demand or staff shortages, to see a provider who may be quarantined at home, or to connect with specialists located in neighboring big cities.
- Calhoun County Mental Health, in Pittsboro, Mississippi, was awarded $102,397 for laptop computers, video monitors, and network upgrades that will allow staff members to connect remotely with high risk or vulnerable patients through telehealth and offer therapy, medication evaluation and monitoring, and other behavioral health services.
- Children’s Aid, in Bronx, New York, was awarded $73,848 for desktop and laptop computers, tablets, software upgrades, and video equipment to allow clinicians to provide video and telephone consultations and remote behavioral health treatment to children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic who have serious risk factors and who are without access to regular medical care.
- Community Guidance Center, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, was awarded $70,198 for tablets and videoconferencing equipment and software to continue to offer all mental and behavioral health services to the high volume of new patients during the COVID-19 pandemic using telehealth.
- Community Hospital North, in Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded $872,363 for telehealth platform subscriptions, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment and licenses to equip new, separate COVID-19 facilities with the full suite of monitoring technology available throughout the rest of the hospital and to facilitate real-time remote video communications between patients and clinicians.
- Community Healthcare Network, in New York, New York, was awarded $180,734 for laptop computers and network upgrades to expand and improve the delivery of telehealth services to its patient population by using telehealth for all non-urgent visits, increasing video consults as appropriate, and providing treatment and monitoring for chronic conditions, including diabetes, asthma, mental health, psychiatry, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.
- Fairview Health Services, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was awarded $598,000 for connected tablets to assigned patients in the inpatient setting for video visit capabilities with medical staff and family members, while other tablets will be mobile and used to monitor patients from the nurse station, to provide palliative care services to avoid prolonged potential exposure to COVID-19.
- Family Practice and Counseling Network, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $206,763 for a telehealth platform and remote monitoring equipment to provide integrated telehealth and remote monitoring services to vulnerable patient populations, such as patients with multiple chronic diseases, pregnant women, and those affected directly by COVID-19.
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Source: HIT Consultant