Sixteen new projects have been selected to receive the funding in the last round of the program established in 2020 to support the advancement of connected care.

By Anuja Vaidya

March 23, 2022 – The Federal Communications Commission has selected 16 new Connected Care Pilot Program projects to receive $29.7 million in funding.

This is the fourth and final set of approved projects under the Connected Care Pilot Program, which was launched in 2020 to help cover costs of broadband connectivity, network equipment, and information services for projects that provide telehealth and connected care services. The program was set up to provide up to $100 million over three years to selected applicants.

The FCC announced its first group of program awardees in January 2021 and, along with the most recent round, is set to fund 107 projects serving patients in 40 states and Washington, D.C.

“Telemedicine has moved into the mainstream. It is now an essential part of healthcare in rural communities, urban communities, and everything in between,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “These pandemic days have proven it.”

The final round includes projects that aim to address several health conditions, such as high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, and COVID-19.

“On a personal level, I’m especially pleased that efforts to address maternal health and high-risk pregnancy are the focus of several of our awardees,” Rosenworcel said. “We are the only industrialized nation with a rising level of maternal mortality. That’s unacceptable in every way…My goodness, we need to do better. So, I’m glad that in several locations, including Virginia, Hawaii, Delaware, Alaska, and South Carolina, we have been able to use this program to support connected care for pregnancy monitoring and maternal health.”

Several organizations are seeking more than $1 million in new funds, including Willis-Knighton Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is seeking $9.4 million, Palmetto State Providers Network, a consortium with 34 sites in South Carolina, which is asking for $7.1 million, and New England Telehealth Consortium, with 11 locations in New Hampshire and Maine, which is seeking $2.5 million.

Though this is the last round of awards through the Connected Care Pilot Program, the FCC will continue its efforts by studying the award recipients in the program, the connections they used, and how they helped facilitate care, Rosenworcel said. Next year, the agency plans to produce a report on initial lessons learned through the connected care and COVID-19 telehealth programs.

The COVID-19 Telehealth Program, initially launched as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020, aims to help providers offer connected care services to patients in their homes or at mobile locations in response to the public health emergency. The FCC relaunched the program in March 2021, and recently completed its sixth and final phase of funding through the program, providing $48 million to 100 healthcare providers.

The FCC is also supporting broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to boost access to internet connectivity, which will expand access to virtual care. The agency recently approved more than $640 million in new funds for broadband carriers in 26 states.

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Program Will Support Connected Care Services Across Country, Focus on Low-Income and Veteran Patients

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WASHINGTON, March 16, 2022—Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced its fourth and final set of approved Connected Care Pilot Program projects.  These 16 projects were approved for a total of $29,752,601 in funding.  With the newly selected projects, the Connected Care Pilot Program is set to fund 107 projects serving patients in 40 states plus Washington, D.C. 

Today’s action also sets a uniform deadline for all participants to file their initial funding request by September 16, 2022.

Telehealth has assumed an increasingly critical role in health care delivery, enabling patients to access health care services without needing to visit a health care provider’s medical office. Among other benefits, connected care services, delivered via a broadband internet access connection directly to the patient’s home or mobile location, also can help contain and treat health conditions during public health emergencies, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Pilot Program will make available funds from the Universal Service Fund over a three-year period for selected pilot projects to help defray the costs of providing certain telehealth services for eligible health care providers, with a particular emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran patients. 

The additional projects selected today will address a number of critical health conditions such as high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, COVID-19, and chronic conditions.  Funding these projects will help bring connected care services to rural and other underserved areas nationwide and will also help the Commission learn more about how Universal Service Fund support can enable providers to use connected care to help improve health outcomes.

• Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA.  Boston Medical Center seeks $446,250 in Connected Care support to provide video visits or consults, remote treatment, and remote patient monitoring to low-income patients who are suffering from chronic/long-term conditions and mental health conditions.  Boston Medical Center would serve approximately 1,500 patients, 85% of whom would be low-income.  Boston Medical Center was selected because of its potential impact on this low-income patient population.
   
• Boston’s Community Medical Group, Inc., Boston, MA.  Boston’s Community Medical Group, Inc., seeks $918,000 in Connected Care support to deploy a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform to serve its 22,000 low-income patients across Massachusetts with primary care and wrap-around services.  Patients to be served are eligible for both Medicare and state Medicaid-supported services, with many having a physical or behavioral disability, a severe mental illness, or substance-use disorder.  Boston’s Community Medical Group’s proposal was chosen because of its potential impact on rural and medically underserved areas and its focus on high-need, low-income populations.  
  
  
• Children’s Hospital of Denver, Aurora, CO.  Children’s Hospital of Denver would use $824,096 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and treatment services to low-income patients under 21 years of age suffering from medically complex conditions.  Children’s Hospital would serve an estimated 200 patients in Wyoming and Colorado, 100% of whom are low-income.  Children’s Hospital of Denver was selected because of its potential impact on low-income children with medically complex conditions in Colorado and surrounding rural areas.
  
  
• Christiana Care Health Services, Newark, DE.  Christiana Care Health Services’ Pilot project would use $3,253,627 in Connected Care support to provide prenatal remote patient monitoring and telehealth visits to primarily low-income patients.  Christiana Care Health Services’ Pilot project would serve an estimated 5,000 patients in Delaware, 80% of whom would be low-income.  Christiana Care Health Services was selected because of its focus on maternal health for low-income patients. 
  
  
• Community Guidance Center – Indiana Location C19, Indiana, PA.  Community Guidance Center would use $154,530 in Connected Care support to provide teletherapy services to low-income and veteran patients in western Pennsylvania.  This Pilot project will focus on providing mental health, substance abuse, and intellectual disability treatment services to 150 patients.  Community Guidance Center’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on expanding access to mental health services to low-income patients residing in rural areas.
  
  
• Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI), Middletown, CT.  Community Health Center, Inc., is a consortium with 30 different sites across Connecticut.  CHCI seeks $1,093,398 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and video consults to low-income and veteran patients with complex, chronic conditions such as hypertension, mental health disorders, obesity, opioid dependency, and HIV, often compounded by adverse social determinants of health such as homelessness.  CHCI would treat an estimated 15,000 patients, more than 80% of whom would be low-income and approximately 5% of whom would be veterans.  Community Health Center, Inc. was selected because of its potential impact on low-income and veteran patients across multiple communities.
   
• Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (Yukon Flats Health Center), Fort Yukon, AK.  Through its Pilot project, Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (Yukon Flats Health Center) seeks $1,124,486 in Connected Care support to provide patient-based, internet-connected remote monitoring, other monitoring, video visits, imaging diagnostics, remote treatment, and other services for veterans and low-income patients with chronic conditions, high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, infectious diseases like COVID-19, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency.  This Pilot project would reach an estimated 5,588 patients, 95% of whom would be low-income and 5% of whom would be veterans.  This project was chosen because of  its potential impact on low-income and veteran patients in a rural region in Alaska.
  
  
• Golden Valley Health Centers, Merced, CA.  Golden Valley Health Centers’ Pilot project would use $725,195 in Connected Care support to provide patient-based internet-connected remote monitoring, other monitoring, video visits or consults, and imaging diagnostics primarily to low-income patients suffering from chronic or long-term conditions, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency.  Golden Valley Health Centers’ Pilot project would provide connected care services to 70,000 patients in California, nearly all of them low-income.  Golden Valley Health Centers was selected because it would serve a large number of low-income patients.
  
  
• Greater Baden Medical Services, Inc., Brandywine, MD.  Greater Baden Medical Services, Inc., seeks $406,249 in Connected Care support to provide patient-based, internet-connected, remote monitoring, video visits, and remote treatment for veterans and low-income patients whose needs include chronic or long-term conditions, high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, infectious diseases like COVID-19, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency.  Greater Baden Medical Services’ Pilot project would reach an estimated 5,400 patients across Maryland, 35% of whom would be low-income and 20% of whom may be veterans.  Greater Baden Medical Services was selected because of its potential impact on the low-income and veteran populations that it serves. 
  
  
• MUSC Medical Center, Charleston, SC.  MUSC Medical Center’s Pilot project seeks $246,347 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and video visits to treat patients for maternal health, chronic conditions, mental health issues, opioid dependency, and infectious diseases.  MUSC Medical Center’s pilot project would reach an estimated 3,500 patients, 25% of whom would be low-income patients.  MUSC Medical Center was selected because of its focus on expanding connected care services, with a specific focus on maternal health and chronic conditions. 
  
  
• New England Telehealth Consortium, Inc., a consortium with a site in North Conway, NH, and 10 sites in Maine.  New England Telehealth Consortium seeks $2,560,098 in Connected Care funding to connect patients directly into its existing consortium network for purposes of receiving connected care services.  The Pilot project would serve 1,872 patients, 20% of whom would be low-income patients and 11% of whom would be veterans.  New England Telehealth Consortium was selected because of its potential impact on these patient groups and its commitment to address maternal health, chronic and long-term conditions, infectious diseases, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency. 
  
  
• Northern Nevada HOPES, Reno, NV.  Northern Nevada HOPES’ Pilot project seeks $331,884 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring services and virtual visits to low-income patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, diabetes, opioid dependency, heart disease, and hypertension.  Northern Nevada HOPES’ Pilot project would serve an estimated 180 patients, nearly all of whom would be low-income.  Northern Nevada HOPES was selected because of its focus on providing broadband to patients residing in transitional housing intended to relieve homelessness. 
  
  
• Palmetto State Providers Network, a consortium with 34 sites in South Carolina.  Palmetto State Providers Network’s Pilot project would use $7,192,893 in Connected Care support to provide remote monitoring and video consults to primarily low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions and infectious diseases.  Palmetto State Providers Network’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 18,000 patients at six locations, of whom 80% are low-income.  Palmetto State Providers Network was selected because of its provision of broadband to a large number of low-income patients.
  
  
• Tower Health – Reading Hospital, West Reading, PA.  Tower Health – Reading Hospital’s Pilot project seeks $396,457 in Connected Care support to provide patient broadband and connected care services for low-income residents of transitional housing.  Tower Health – Reading Hospital’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 169 patients, nearly all whom would be low-income and 15% of whom would be veterans.  Tower Health’s project was selected because of its provision of broadband to low-income and veteran patients and potential impact on these populations.
  
  
• University Hospital, Newark, NJ.  University Hospital seeks $627,300 for telehealth platforms, including an integrated telehealth platform, to facilitate virtual visits and remote patient monitoring to treat patients with chronic and long-term conditions, as well as COVID-19.  University Hospital would serve 80,000 patients in Newark, approximately 29.7% of whom are low-income or veteran patients.  University Hospital was selected because it has significant telehealth experience and is the only state-owned acute healthcare facility in Newark New Jersey’s Central Ward, with a service area that includes medically underserved areas. 
  
  
• Willis-Knighton Health System, Shreveport, LA.  Willis-Knighton Health System seeks $9,451,791 in Pilot Program funding for patient broadband and to expand remote patient monitoring and video visits and consults to treat patients for chronic conditions (including diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency and infectious diseases.  Willis Knighton Health System’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 12,554 patients, approximately 57% of whom would be low-income or veterans, in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, including rural and medically underserved areas.  Willis Knighton Health System’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on expanding access to connected care services and addressing broadband connectivity barriers for low-income and veteran patients, including in rural and underserved areas.

To learn more about the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program, visit https://www.fcc.gov/wireline-competition/telecommunications-access-policy-division/connected-care-pilot-program.

Action by the Commission March 16, 2022 by Public Notice (FCC 22-23).  Chairwoman Rosenworcel, Commissioners Carr, Starks, and Simington approving.  Chairwoman Rosenworcel, Commissioners Carr and Starks issuing separate statements.

WC Docket No. 18-213

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Program Will Support Connected Care Services Across Country, Focus on Low-Income and Veteran Patients

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WASHINGTON, October 26, 2021—Today the Federal Communications Commission approved a Public Notice announcing its third set of approved Connected Care Pilot Program projects.  These 36 projects were approved for a total of $15,337,689 in funding.  The newly selected Pilot projects join an additional 57 projects approved earlier this year, bringing the total to over $69.3 million in funding for projects serving patients in 36 states plus Washington, DC. 

Telehealth has assumed an increasingly critical role in health care delivery, enabling patients to access health care services without needing to visit a health care provider’s medical office. Among other benefits, connected care services, delivered via a broadband internet access connection directly to the patient’s home or mobile location, also can help contain and treat health conditions during public health emergencies, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Pilot Program will make available up to $100 million from the Universal Service Fund over a three-year period for selected pilot projects to help defray the costs of providing certain telehealth services for eligible health care providers, with a particular emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran patients. 

The additional projects selected today represent a broad array of geographic areas and a diversity of provider types, involve patients in underserved communities and veteran patients, and will address a range of health conditions.  Funding these projects will help bring connected care services to rural and other underserved areas nationwide and will also help the Commission learn more about how USF support can enable providers to use connected care to help improve health outcomes.

These projects will address a variety of health issues such as maternal health/high-risk pregnancy, COVID-19, other infectious diseases, opioid dependency, mental health conditions, and chronic or recurring conditions:

• Adult MH & SA Outpatient Services, Barrow, AK.  Adult MH & SA Outpatient Services seeks $557,366 in Pilot Program funding to provide connected care service, such as video visits, to patients for various treatments, including treatment for mental health conditions and substance abuse disorders.  Adult MH & SA Outpatient Services estimates serving 9,872 patients, more than 80% of whom are expected to be low-income or veterans.  It is located in Barrow, Alaska, which is an extremely rural area, and its service area includes Healthcare Professional Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas.  Adult MH & SA Outpatient Services’ Pilot project was selected because of its focus on expanding the availability of and access to connected care services primarily to low-income patients and veterans in extremely remote, underserved regions in Alaska. 
  
  
• Charles Judd Community Health Center, Honolulu, HI. Charles Judd Community Health Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, seeks $82,535 in Connected Care support to provide a health maintenance program for senior citizens virtually.  Through its Pilot project, Charles Judd Community Health Center would remotely monitor health conditions (including high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer) and monitor mental health, including anxiety and depression, in participating patients.  Charles Judd Community Health Center’s pilot would serve an estimated 300 senior patients, 100% of whom are low-income.  Charles Judd Community Health Center seeks a video platform, hotspots, and internet access to help its patients access its health services virtually.  Charles Judd Community Health Center’s project was selected because of its focus on serving low-income patients, all of whom are senior citizens.  
  
  
• Children with Special Health Needs Branch-State Dept. of Health, Honolulu, HI.  Children with Special Health Needs Branch’s Pilot project would use $316,219 in Connected Care support to provide remote treatments, video visits, and imaging diagnostics services primarily to low-income and veteran patients suffering from chronic conditions and those needing maternal health services.  The Pilot project would reach an estimated 1,000 patients across Hawaii, more than 75% of whom would be veteran or low-income patients. This project was selected because of its potential positive impact on maternal health.
  
  
• Christian Family Solutions – Mankato, MN; Christian Family Solutions – Lakeville, MN; Christian Family Solutions – Waukesha, WI.  Wisconsin Lutheran Child & Family Service, Inc., d/b/a Christian Family Solutions, filed three separate applications that requested a combined total of $412,666 in Connected Care Pilot Program support.  Christian Family Solutions (CFS) will use the funding to provide patients with mental health services via video visits/consults for telepsychiatry, adult dual diagnosis intensive outpatient programs, outpatient counseling, children’s therapeutic services and support, adolescent DBT skills groups, and adolescent day treatment.  CFS will treat an estimated 1,570 patients, 25% of whom are low-income.  This project was selected because of its focus on mental health services. 
  
  
• Circare, Syracuse, NY.  Circare seeks $133,246 for patient connectivity, network equipment and upgraded bandwidth to provide video visits and remote treatment to patients requiring mental health services.  Circare estimates that its Pilot project will directly impact 100 patients, all of whom are low-income.  Circare was selected because of its focus on low-income patients.
  
  
• Conway Medical, Conway, SC.  Conway Medical’s Pilot project would use $1,018,449 in Connected Care support to provide patient-based video visits, imaging diagnostics, and remote treatment services primarily to low-income patients suffering from chronic or long-term conditions. Conway Medical’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 2,000 patients, 18% of whom are low-income, in Conway, South Carolina.  Conway Medical was selected because of its plan to expand telehealth access to patients residing in rural and underserved areas. 
  
  
• Cooper Health System, Camden, NJ.  Cooper Health System’s Pilot project would use $62,900 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and virtual visits to veteran patients suffering from COVID-19, mental health conditions, diabetes, cancer, and cardiac conditions.  Cooper Health System’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 50 patients, 100% of whom are veterans.  Cooper Health System was selected because of its commitment to serve the local veteran population.
  
  
• Covington County Hospital, Collins, MS.  Covington County Hospital’s Pilot project seeks $162,860 in Connected Care support to provide remote treatment and video visits primarily to low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions, infectious diseases, and opioid dependency.  Covington County Hospital’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 800 patients, 25% of whom would be either low-income or veteran patients.  Covington County Hospital’s project was selected because of its potential impact on an extremely rural area.
  
  
• Crisp Regional Hospital, Cordele, GA.  Crisp Regional Hospital seeks $849,720 in Pilot Program funding to provide connected care services, including remote patient monitoring, primarily to low-income patients suffering from chronic or long-term conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.  Crisp Regional Hospital’s Pilot project would serve approximately 1,000 patients, an estimated 89% of whom would be low-income.  Crisp Regional Hospital is located in Crisp County, Georgia, a rural area with a high incidence of chronic illness.  Crisp Regional Hospital’s application was selected because of its primary focus on providing connected care services to low-income patients with chronic conditions, and its potential impact on patients in rural Georgia. 
  
  
• Forensics, Salt Lake City, UT; Valley EPIC Outpatient, Taylorsville, UT; Highland Springs Specialty Clinic Holladay, Salt Lake City, UT; Highland Springs Specialty Clinic American Fork, American Fork, UT; Carmen Pingree Autism Center of Learning, Salt Lake City, UT; Kids Intensive Day Services, Midvale, UT; CORE Recovery Management Outpatient Services, Salt Lake City, UT; Valleywest, West Valley City, UT; Children’s Outpatient Services, Salt Lake City, UT.  These sites filed separate applications for similar Pilot projects. Collectively, these projects seek $5,550,146 in Pilot Program support to offer increased video visits and enhanced telehealth experience to patients dealing with chronic and mental health conditions. These projects would reach 23,239 patients, 96% of whom would be low-income patients. These projects were selected because of the potential impact on low-income patient communities.
  
  
• Friend Health, Chicago, IL.  Friend Health’s Pilot project would use $606,900 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and remote treatments to primarily low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions, high-risk pregnancies, infectious diseases (including COVID-19), mental health issues, and opioid dependency.  Friend Health’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 39,000 patients in Chicago, 86% of whom are low-income.  Friend Health’s application was selected for its plan to engage low-income patients in connected care services and thus optimize preventive care and more effectively manage chronic conditions and COVID-19.
  
  
• Long Island Select Healthcare, Inc., a consortium with five sites in Long Island, NY.  Long Island Select Healthcare seeks $306,000 in Connected Care support to provide patient connectivity for video visits and consults and other remote treatment.  Long Island Select Healthcare’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 5,700 patients who reside in group homes, 100% of whom are low-income.  Long Island Select Healthcare would leverage Pilot Program funding to expand access to care for its patients who reside in group homes, including patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Long Island Select Healthcare’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on expanding access to care and addressing broadband access issues for a significant number of vulnerable, low-income patients residing in Long Island. 
  
  
• Marion General Hospital, Marion, IN. Marion General Hospital seeks $34,230 in Connected Care funding for patient broadband and telehealth platform licenses to provide remote patient monitoring, video visits, and remote treatment to treat patients with chronic illnesses (such as diabetes, and high blood pressure), infectious diseases (including COVID-19), and opioid dependency.  Marion General Hospital’s Pilot project would serve 345 patients, including 25 directly served by requested patient broadband, an estimated 45% of whom are low-income.  Marion General Hospital’s service area includes rural areas and Medically Underserved Areas.  Marion General Hospital would leverage Pilot Program funding to expand its connected care services to treat additional conditions.  Marion General Hospital’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on expanding the availability of and access to connected care services to underserved high-risk patients with chronic conditions, opioid dependency, and infectious diseases. 
  
  
• Metro Health, Washington, DC.  Metro Health seeks $297,517 in Pilot Program support to provide remote patient monitoring and video visits to treat patients with chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and HIV/AIDS.  Metro Health’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 1,450 patients, including 200 directly served by patient broadband, 100% of whom are low-income.  Metro Health’s service area includes Health Professional Shortage and Medically Underserved Areas.  Metro Health’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on addressing patient connectivity barriers and providing enhanced video visits for low-income patients.
  
  
• MFA 2150 C-19, Washington, DC.  MFA 2150 C-19’s (GW Medical Faculty Associates’) Pilot project would use $454,809 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and virtual visits to primarily low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes, atopic dermatitis, and COVID-19.  MFA 2150 C-19’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 1,100 patients in the District of Columbia, 80% of whom are low-income patients.  MFA 2150 C-19’s Pilot project was selected because of its focus on improving access to care for a large percentage of low-income patients in Washington, DC.
  
  
• New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center – Bronx Child and Family Mental Health Center, Bronx, NY.  New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center’s Pilot project would use $636,650 in Connected Care support to provide video visits or consult services to low-income patients suffering from mental health conditions.  New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center’s Pilot project would serve an estimated 10,000 patients in Bronx, New York, 100% of whom are low-income patients.  New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center was selected because it would expand mental health access to a large patient population that is 100% low-income. 
  
  
• North County Health Services (NCHS), San Marcos, CA. North County Health Services seeks $334,887 in Connected Care support for health care provider broadband and telehealth video licenses to provide patient-based Internet connected remote monitoring and virtual visits and consults.  Through this funding, North County Services’ Pilot project will provide primary care services, COVID-19 screening, routine and urgent care, behavioral health, women’s health, and dental services to patients, and will treat chronic and long-term conditions, high-risk pregnancy and maternal health conditions, infectious disease, and opioid dependency.  North County Health Services would treat 30,000 patients in San Diego County, 96% of whom are low-income patients.  North County Health Services was selected because of its focus on increasing access to comprehensive healthcare for low-income and underserved individuals.
  
  
• Norwegian American Hospital, Chicago, IL. Norwegian American Hospital’s Pilot project seeks $203,065 in Connected Care support to provide patient broadband and telehealth software to increase the use of telehealth visits with its patients.  Norwegian American Hospital’s Pilot project would serve approximately 675 patients, 100% of whom would be low-income.  Norwegian American Hospital was selected because of its 100% low-income patient population and plans to provide those patients with broadband service for telehealth visits.
  
  
• NY Community Broadband Partnership, consortium with sites in Sodus, NY; Port Byron, NY; Geneva, NY; Bath, NY; Newark, NY; Penn Yan, NY; Ovid, NY; and Dundee, NY.  NY Community Broadband Partnership seeks $126,480 in Connected Care support to build out its telehealth resources and better serve the migrant community of the Finger Lakes region.  The project would target chronic health conditions, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, and infectious diseases, which have been treated by the participating sites for more than 20 years.  The project would reach 24,227 patients, 100% of whom would be low-income.  The project was selected because of its potential regional impact addressing a diverse set of health conditions for low-income patients.
  
  
• One Brooklyn Health System, consortium with sites in Brooklyn, NY.  One Brooklyn Health System is a consortium comprised of three sites across Brooklyn.  One Brooklyn Health System’s Pilot project seeks $882,401 in Connected Care support to provide video visits and other services to low-income individuals suffering from chronic or long-term conditions, high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, infectious disease, including COVID-19, mental health conditions and opioid dependency.  One Brooklyn Health System’s Pilot program would reach an estimated 68,000 patients, 80% of whom would be low-income.  One Brooklyn was selected because of its potential impact on a large low-income population.
  
  
• Parkview Consortium, consortium with seven sites in Indiana and Ohio.  Parkview Consortium will use $642,600 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring to treat low-income and veteran patients who suffer from diabetes.  Parkview will serve an estimated 350 patients, 18% of whom are estimated to be low-income or veterans, at 7 sites in Indiana.  Parkview Consortium was chosen for its plan to extend connected care services for diabetes management to rural patients.
  
  
• Sky Lakes Medical Center, Klamath Falls, OR.  Sky Lakes Medical Center seeks $193,673 in Pilot Program funding to treat patients with chronic or long-term conditions, high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency.   Sky Lakes Medical Center would serve an estimated 150 chronically ill, isolated patients, in rural Oregon, all of whom are low-income.  Sky Lakes Medical Center would leverage Pilot Program funding to provide patients with broadband connections to participate in video visits.  Sky Lakes Medical Center was selected because of its focus on expanding access to care for chronically ill, isolated patients in rural areas.
  
  
• Trinity Health Consortium, Darby, PA, and Langhorne, PA.  Trinity Health Consortium’s Pilot project would use $652,800 in Connected Care support to provide remote patient monitoring and video visits and consults for primarily low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions, mental health issues, and opioid dependency.  Trinity Health Consortium’s Pilot project would serve approximately 80,000 patients, approximately 65% of whom are either low-income or veterans, in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metro area.  Trinity Health Consortium’s proposal was selected for its proposal to treat and monitor chronic health conditions, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency for a sizeable low-income and veteran patient group.
  
  
• Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center, Inc., consortium with 13 sites in Erie County, NY; Niagara County, NY; and Genesee County, NY.  Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center, Inc.’s, Pilot project would use $373,320 in Connected Care support to provide remote treatment and video consults to primarily low-income patients who require mental health and opioid-dependency services.  Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center, Inc.’s, Pilot project would serve an estimated 15,000 patients in western New York, an estimated 73% of whom are low-income and 5% veterans.  Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center’s Pilot project was selected for its plan to provide connected care services to a large Medicaid population with mental health and opioid-dependency requirements.
  
  
• Winchester Medical Center, Winchester, VA.  Winchester Medical Center seeks $367,200 in Connected Care Pilot Program funding to provide patient broadband and connected care services, including remote patient monitoring, and video visits and consults, to treat patients for infectious diseases, opioid dependency, chronic conditions, mental health conditions, and high-risk pregnancy/maternal health in Virginia and West Virginia.  Winchester Medical Center would serve an estimated 338 patients, all of whom are low-income.  Winchester Medical Center’s service area includes rural areas, as well as Health Professional Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas.  Winchester Medical Center was selected because of its potential impact on rural and underserved areas, and its focus on increasing access to care for high-risk, low-income patients.
  
  
• Youth Outreach Services, a consortium of three sites in Chicago, IL.  Youth Outreach Services seeks $79,050 to provide mental health and substance abuse disorder services remotely.  Youth Outreach Services’ Pilot project would treat an estimated 12,000 at-risk youth in the greater Chicago area, 90% of whom are low-income patients.  Youth Outreach Services’ Pilot project was selected because of its focus on providing mental health services to a large number of low-income children and young adults.

To learn more about the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program, visit https://www.fcc.gov/wireline-competition/telecommunications-access-policy-division/connected-care-pilot-program. Action by the Commission October 26, 2021 by Public Notice (FCC 21-113).  Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel, Commissioners Carr, Starks, and Simington approving.  Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel, Commissioners Carr and Starks issuing separate statements.

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Media Contact: Katie Gorscak katie.gorscak@fcc.gov   For Immediate Release   FCC ANNOUNCES NEW COVID-19 TELEHEALTH PROGRAM AWARDS TOTALING NEARLY $42 MILLION TO HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN EVERY STATE AND TERRITORY     — WASHINGTON, August 26, 2021—The Federal Communications Commission today approved an initial set of 62 applications for funding commitments totaling $41.98 million for Round 2 of its COVID-19 Telehealth Program.  Health care providers in each state, territory, and the District of Columbia, including those previously unfunded in Round 1, will use this funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic.  The FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program supports the efforts of health care providers to continue serving their patients by providing reimbursement for telecommunications services, information services, and connected devices necessary to enable telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.    “During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to health care has proven to be not only a national issue, but also a local issue, and it is imperative that every community is given the tools to access this care as safely and effectively as possible.  The FCC is committed to ensuring that every state and territory in the United States receive funding as part of this program,” said FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.  “The FCC took action earlier this year to establish a system for rating applications in Round 2, factoring in the hardest hit and lowest-income areas, Tribal communities, and previously unfunded states and territories.  Now even more doctors and nurses in every corner of our country can establish or expand telehealth services to support patients and their families.”   This first set of awards will go to applications that qualify for the equitable distribution step, as required by Congress and outlined in the FCC’s rules, to ensure nationwide distribution of funding to health care providers in each state, territory, and the District of Columbia.  This step funds the highest-scoring applications in every state, territory, and the District of Columbia plus the second highest-scoring application from the states and territories that did not receive funding in Round 1, if multiple applications were submitted from those areas.   Round 2 is a $249.95 million federal initiative that builds on the $200 million program established as part of the CARES Act.  Now that funding has been committed to the highest-scoring applications from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia, the next funding awards will commit funding to the highest-scoring applications, regardless of geography, until at least $150 million has been committed.  The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau will then announce an opportunity for all remaining applicants to supplement their applications, as required by Congress.  After all remaining applicants have the opportunity to supplement, the remaining program funding will be committed.     Below is a list of health care providers that were approved for funding (alphabetically by state):   Mobile County Health Department in Mobile, Alabama was awarded $803,979 to purchase remote patient monitoring equipment and a telehealth software platform, focusing on patients with high blood pressure due to the increased risk of experiencing severe complications from COVID-19. The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Juneau, Alaska was awarded $804,092 for equipment, including telemedicine carts, web services, tablets and videoconferencing software, to create a telehealth program that will provide care to communities spanning an archipelago of more than 375 islands, many accessible only by plane or boat, and will maximize patient access while minimizing in-person contact and risk of virus transmission. Norton Sound Health Corporation in Nome, Alaska was awarded $416,250 for home health care kits and mobile devices to provide enhanced remote care management to address the barriers of providing health care services to patients remotely. LBJ Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago, American Samoa was awarded $334,519 for telehealth equipment to facilitate consultations and remote ultrasound sessions with OB/GYN specialists as well as follow-up visits with patients unable to visit in-person due to COVID-19. The Tafuna Family Health Center in Tafuna, American Samoa was awarded $187,297 for telehealth equipment to provide contactless primary, dental, women’s health, pharmacy, and pediatric care. Tuba City Regional Health Care in Tuba City, Arizona was awarded $266,946 to purchase internet service, a mobile telehealth clinic, telemedicine carts, and cell phones to bring health care to and connect patients from the Navajo Nation in remote locations – who may lack access to transportation, internet connectivity, or phone service – with primary care and specialty providers. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $982,589 to purchase telemedicine carts for emergency departments, labor and delivery units, and clinical spaces at a range of rural, medically underserved health care facilities that will be essential for secure, real-time communication with providers to triage, diagnose, and provide treatment recommendations for hospitals in rural and underserved communities in Arkansas. The Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda, California was awarded $862,906 to purchase telehealth carts, WiFi extenders/mesh networks, and tablets to enable the provision of telehealth services to underserved and under-connected communities across the state in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Peak Vista Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center operating 28 facilities in rural and urban areas in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado was awarded $999,565 for devices to provide medical and behavioral health care via telemedicine to patients who may face significant barriers to care, including lack of health insurance, transportation, or housing. Community Health Center, Inc. in Middletown, Connecticut was awarded $999,023 to purchase laptops, monitors, and other equipment to enable health care providers to communicate with patients and provide telehealth services throughout the state and nationwide. La Red Health Center in Georgetown, Delaware was awarded $287,765 to purchase tablets and data plans, Bluetooth-enabled self-measured blood pressure devices, Bluetooth-enabled glucometer starter kits, Bluetooth-enabled weight scales, an automated texting service, and a monthly cell service. The Elaine Ellis Center of Health in Washington, D.C. was awarded $332,124 to acquire telehealth carts and secure servers to provide comprehensive telehealth services including primary, prenatal, mental health, urgent dental, and chronic care. MCR Health, Inc. in Palmetto, Florida, was awarded $1,000,000 to purchase laptops, microphones, cameras, monitors, smart TVs, and telehealth carts/kiosks to enhance the provision of telehealth services during the pandemic, particularly so they can screen, triage, manage, and monitor patients with COVID-19 symptoms remotely, thereby limiting the risk of spread to other patients and health care workers. The Georgia Primary Care Association, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers throughout Georgia, was awarded $998,514 for remote patient monitoring devices to help track and provide greater visibility into patient health that will help clinical staff quickly identify conditions or changes and support clinicians in providing quality health care. The Guam Memorial Hospital Authority in Tamuning, Guam was awarded $722,000 for connected devices and internet services to facilitate and streamline the continuous care of COVID-19 patients, as well as follow-up care for outpatient services. Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded $924,603 for the purchase and installation of clinic-to-clinic telemedicine equipment, as well as to upgrade its COVID-19 hotline to a virtual urgent care telehealth platform during the current pandemic. The University of Hawaii Maternal Telehealth Network for Maternal Fetal Medicine in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded $899,106 for internet connectivity and video conferencing services as well as electronic fetal monitoring devices and interfaces to allow for remote, essential women’s and prenatal care. St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho was awarded $699,815 to build a secure virtual 2-way audio/video communication platform to remotely monitor and care for patients following discharge.  This funding will help St. Luke’s Health System add ICU beds in non-traditional units and attempt to prevent additional hospitalizations through continued routine care delivered virtually. Mercy Health System in Rockford, Illinois was awarded $1,000,000 to purchase devices that will enable audio/video interaction between providers and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and will allow patient populations to overcome traditional barriers to care, such as transportation challenges, remote locations, and a limited quantity of health care providers. HealthLinc Valparaiso in Valparaiso, Indiana was awarded $362,696 to purchase devices that will enable remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients under quarantine, with a particular focus on patients with chronic illnesses. Shenandoah Medical Center in Shenandoah, Iowa, representing four Critical Access Hospitals in Iowa, was awarded $946,100 to purchase remote patient monitoring devices such as connected pulse oximeters and blood pressure cuffs to more closely care for vulnerable high-risk patients with the aim of increasing early detection of health conditions and preventing unnecessary hospitalizations. Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Inc. in Pittsburg, Kansas was awarded $366,167 to purchase Bluetooth-enabled medical devices including blood pressure cuffs, scales, and glucometers, and well as connected tablets for remote patient monitoring.  Dayspring Health in Williamsburg, Kentucky was awarded $455,420 to purchase telehealth equipment, including tablets, cameras, and probes for use by providers to enable seamless care and communication with patients.  This technology will support enhanced virtual meetings to benefit patients that are home-bound or living in rural and remote communities. Baton Rouge Medical Center – Bluebonnet Campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was awarded $377,439 for tablets and telehealth platform licenses to provide telehealth services to patients. Alfond Center for Health in Augusta, Maine was awarded $603,315 to equip providers with all-in-one workstations capable of video conferencing and remote patient monitoring devices to perform virtual visits and reduce exposure. University of Maryland, Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland was awarded $977,066 for the purchase of laptops, internet services, mobile telehealth carts, equipment for vaccine outreach, and vaccine hotline and remote patient monitoring equipment to provide telehealth care during the pandemic.  St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as part of Southcoast Health System, was awarded $1,000,000 for laptops, mobile devices, and remote patient monitoring equipment to expand the hospital’s telehealth capabilities and provide quality care services to patients at home. Sparrow Health System in Lansing, Michigan was awarded $586,375 to purchase telehealth equipment for five hospitals, primarily located in rural, low-income areas, to expand patient access to, and improve timeliness of, care. Essentia Health in Duluth, an integrated health system in Minnesota, serving patients in the upper Midwest, was awarded $981,204 to support the acquisition of remote monitoring devices and video carts with peripheral cameras and stethoscopes/EKGs for care during the pandemic, and to increase wireless broadband coverage at eight clinics to allow for additional space for telehealth patients. Magnolia Regional Health Center in Corinth, Mississippi was awarded $471,885 for internet-based medical monitoring equipment to provide a greater range of services to patients, including urgent care telehealth visits and telemedicine for outpatient care to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. SSM Health in St. Louis, Missouri was awarded $914,400 to expand its remote patient monitoring system pilot program by purchasing software, hardware, and connected devices that will increase the quality of patient care while promoting social distancing and improving health outcomes for patients. University of Montana College of Health in Missoula, Montana was awarded $679,441 in order to purchase telemedicine kits to enable critical, remote telehealth services and to provide internet connected devices for remote patient monitoring services during the pandemic for underserved, rural, and Tribal populations within the state. The Bighorn Valley Health Center, Inc. in Hardin, Montana was awarded $930,000 for remote patient monitoring equipment, mobile devices, cellular data plans, and monitoring platform services to provide remote care and monitoring to patients. Nebraska Urban Indian Health Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska was awarded $190,875 for COVID-19 response kits, tablets, broadband services, and connected devices to ensure patients, including Tribal communities, have access to telehealth services and care during the pandemic. Nevada Health Centers, a Community Health Center providing health care services throughout the state, in Las Vegas, Nevada was awarded $995,087 to secure telehealth carts, peripherals, and virtual conferencing equipment, as well as provider training required to facilitate secure health care to patients in urban, rural, and frontier communities. Harbor Care Health and Wellness Center in Nashua, New Hampshire was awarded $801,768 to obtain computers and telecommunications devices, as well as improvements to their network and network security to provide enhanced telehealth services to patients, 75% of whom self-identified as homeless. Neighborhood Health Services Corporation in Plainfield, New Jersey was awarded $491,308 to purchase remote patient monitoring devices that are Bluetooth enabled to allow secure and timely transfer of vital data directly into patients’ records to enhance safe, telehealth patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.    Presbyterian Medical Services in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as part of a system of 51 community health centers, was awarded $357,725 to purchase software that will help to provide secure, confidential remote medical consultations, which will expand access to health care and improve the quality of health, especially for those living in rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. United Health Services, a health care system serving South Central New York, was awarded $562,116 for telemedicine carts and patient monitoring devices to provide telehealth services to patients at home, many of whom are located within high-poverty, rural, and underserved areas. Cape Fear Valley Health System, which serves rural and remote communities in Southeastern North Carolina, was awarded $998,357 to deploy during the pandemic telemedicine carts and devices to enable secure, remote patient visits and consultations, as well as access to specialists and providers across the health system. McKenzie County Healthcare Systems, Inc. in Watford City, North Dakota was awarded $194,267 for telehealth equipment and internet connectivity to provide telehealth services to patients, including outpatient follow-up care for COVID-19 patients. Commonwealth Health Center in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands was awarded $522,722 for telehealth devices to expand outpatient telemedicine services, particularly for patients living on the more rural islands who would otherwise require air travel to access care, putting them at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Mercy Health in Cincinnati, Ohio was awarded $812,876 for telehealth equipment to ensure continuity of care for patients, while reducing the risk of COVID-19 exposure and spread, as well as to provide an on-demand virtual care platform with video functionality that enables remote access to a health care provider. INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was awarded $998,854 to purchase connected digital devices that will enable care focused on specific vulnerable populations that have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as high-risk Medicaid and Medicare patients in Oklahoma City metro areas and rural communities. La Clinica del Valle Family Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, in Medford, Oregon was awarded $123,792 for laptops, mobile devices, and a telehealth platform, to provide synchronous, connected health services to patients, while targeting low-income, uninsured, and/or Spanish-speaking patients at its neighborhood health centers and mobile health center. Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was awarded $999,910 to acquire, deploy, and support telehealth connected devices such as tablets and video platform hardware to enable video visits with patients in medically underserved communities that have been particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. The Med Centro Healthcare System in Ponce, Puerto Rico was awarded $909,391 to acquire network improvements and connected devices, such as laptops and tablets, to implement a telehealth program to provide continuous care to patients during the pandemic whose incomes are primarily below the federal poverty level. Centro de Salud Integral en Naranjito in Naranjito, Puerto Rico was awarded $869,990 to purchase devices to conduct telehealth visits to care for patients, including those in the isolated central mountainous region of Puerto Rico, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. East Bay Family Health Center in Newport, Rhode Island was awarded $164,950 to purchase connected glucose meters and a mobile software platform to enhance the connection and interaction between providers and patients regardless of their location during the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina was awarded $853,062 for telehealth devices that can support interactions between hospitalized patients or long-term care residents and their care teams and family members for conferences and pastoral care, and for remote monitoring devices to manage care for high-risk patients. Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota was awarded $967,438 to secure internal connectivity wireless access points and associated network security to conduct confidential telehealth appointments during the pandemic at several Critical Access Hospitals in medically underserved and rural areas. Mountain States Health Alliance in Johnson City, Tennessee was awarded $994,354 for telemedicine equipment to allow providers to monitor patients with COVID-19 at home as well as around-the-clock monitoring of hospitalized patients while decreasing the risk of COVID-19 exposure. El Centro de Corazón, Magnolia Health Center in Houston, Texas was awarded $999,880 to purchase laptops and web conferencing devices to help clinicians provide connected care, and to purchase remote patient monitoring devices and cell phones with data plans to enable patients to stay connected with their providers from the safety of their homes. Gunnison Valley Hospital in Gunnison, Utah was awarded $275,850 for connected devices to support expanded telehealth services offered to patients in six counties the hospital serves, as well as in-hospital patients. The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont was awarded $606,997 for telehealth equipment to help support remote patient engagement and monitoring for individuals with COVID-19, as well as increased access to contactless care for high-risk individuals. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia was awarded $933,385 to purchase remote monitoring equipment for patient care during the pandemic. The Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center in Christiansted, St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands was awarded $345,566 to purchase telemedicine devices and virtual visit software to implement a full telehealth system to improve patient care. The Virgin Islands Healthcare Foundation in Christiansted, St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands was awarded $416,002 to purchase remote patient monitoring systems to reduce in-person contact for providers and patients with chronic conditions who might contract COVID-19 from otherwise routine hospital visits. NEW Health Programs Association in Chewelah, Washington was awarded $485,047 to purchase remote patient monitoring devices and web cameras to provide web-based telehealth visits for patients who have been identified as potential positives or positives for COVID-19 in an area that serves rural patients where transportation is often a barrier to care. Cabin Creek Health Systems in Charleston, West Virginia was awarded $304,521 to purchase laptops, network software and equipment, security software, and a voice service platform to bolster their internet and voice services to create a more efficient, secure and stable connected care program for patients and providers. Bellin Memorial Hospital, Inc. in Green Bay, Wisconsin was awarded $682,016 to purchase tablets, remote patient care devices and software, telemedicine carts, and remote patient ophthalmological devices and software to deliver remote care to patients in rural areas and promote social distancing within healthcare facilities. American Telemedicine Connect Consortium, a consortium of health care providers throughout Wyoming, was awarded $949,592 to purchase blood glucose monitoring kits, connected scales, blood pressure cuffs, and SIM cards for mobile medical devices to enhance the delivery of telemedicine during the pandemic.   For additional information on the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth program, visit: https://www.usac.org/about/covid-19-telehealth-program/.   ### Media Relations: (202) 418-0500 / ASL: (844) 432-2275 / Twitter: @FCC / www.fcc.gov   This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).

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The Federal Communications Commission has posted new guidelines for its Connected Care Pilot Program and announced 36 telehealth projects that have qualified for funding.

By Eric Wicklund

June 18, 2021 – Some 36 telehealth programs across the country will get federal funding through the Federal Communications Commission’s Connected Care Pilot Program.

The FCC approved new guidelines for the $100 million program during its Thursday meeting, then announced the second road of approved applications. The 36 new projects will account for $31 million in funding, and join 23 projects and $26 million approved in January.

The new guidelines follow criticism that the FCC hasn’t been transparent with either this program or the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which is due to begin its second round soon. Critics had said the agency wasn’t explaining in detail how applications were approved, why some applications were turned down or how the funding should be used.

“Today, we provide the guidance that participants in this program need to begin their projects,” Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release accompanying the announcement. “This includes clarifying what equipment and services are eligible, providing details regarding the competitive bidding process, and explaining just how reimbursement will work.”

“I’m particularly heartened that many of these projects will focus on treating high-risk pregnancy and maternal health, an area that needs improvement and I am hopeful that connected care can help,” she added.  “In addition, other projects are designed to provide care for opioid dependency, mental health, and chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. I’m looking forward to the good these projects can do and just as importantly what we can learn from this effort.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has championed the program since its inception in 2018, praised the new guidelines, which were required before the first batch of award nominees could begin their projects.

“With advances in smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices, patients no longer need to visit brick-and-mortar facilities to receive high-quality care. Connected care is facilitating the delivery of patient-centered health care from the comfort of a patient’s home,” he said in a separate release. “Today’s action brings us one step closer to getting funding into the hands of the first batch of awardees. These dollars will go toward supporting the networks and equipment that facilitate connected care services that are crucial to patients …”

Among the programs chosen in the second round are:

• The Yale New Haven Health System, which is getting roughly $1.28 million in total (four hospitals in the network filed separate applications) to expand broadband connectivity to allow about 1,800 people to access telemental health services;
• Catholic Health Initiatives, a network of 36 sites in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Dakota and Nebraska, which is getting roughly $6.1 million to expand remote patient monitoring and virtual care services to vulnerable populations, especially low-income rural residents;
• Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, which is getting about $1.7 million to expand telehealth and RPM services to almost 28,000 residents in the region and nationwide;
• Hudson Headwaters Health Network, a consortium with sites in 13 upstate New York communities, which is getting almost $770,000 to improve broadband access and telehealth services for more than 81,000 residents;
• The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, a consortium with six sites in the New Hampshire city, which is getting almost $560,000 for a pilot project to provide telehealth and RPM services for an estimated 11,000 residents dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues;
• The University of Florida’s Department of Pediatrics, which is getting $612,000 to expand RPM and telehealth services for roughly 10,000 low-income residents and veterans who typically travel long distances for behavioral health and chronic care services; and
• The University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, which is getting roughly $320,000 to expand telehealth and RPM services, improve broadband access and provide digital literacy support for roughly 1,000 low-income and veteran residents.

The three-year, $100 million program is designed to help projects “defray the costs of providing certain telehealth services for eligible health care providers, with a particular emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran patients.”

Both the Connected Care Pilot Program and the COVID-19 Telehealth Program come at time when interest in telehealth and RPM is high, due in large part to the coronavirus pandemic. And while adoption soared during the height of the pandemic, it also brought to light the challenges faced by underserved communities in accessing healthcare, including telehealth services.

Many of these new projects are being designed to address those challenges, often called social determinants of health. They include lack of resources for acquiring or accessing telehealth (especially audio-visual services), insufficient or inefficient broadband capacity, and cultural and ethnic issues that push people away from healthcare.

“The Connected Care Pilot Program will make an enormous difference in communities around the country, but our work is far from done,” FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said in a separate press release. “Broadband can bring back the house call in a new way and expand the reach of doctors, mental health professionals, and other providers. That’s a game changer— but not for the many communities that remain on the wrong side of the digital divide. In the United States, tens of millions of people either can’t get online or are making great sacrifices to get connected. To fully realize the benefits of telehealth, we need to finish the work of ending internet inequality.”

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Federal agencies took several actions last week to spur broadband deployment, helping to alleviate what the pandemic has already highlighted – Americans need greater access to reliable, high-speed Internet services to continue to engage in the virtual activities, such as telehealth and distancing learning, that have now become a normal part of our daily lives.

• First, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) adopted an Order providing additional guidance on its Connected Care Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”).  As we previously reported, the Pilot Program will make available $100 million in funding over three years to help defray eligible health care providers’ costs of providing connected care services (e.g., remote patient monitoring, patient health education, “store-and-forward” services, and video consultations and visits).  Since the FCC opened its application portal in November 2020, it has received more than 200 applications for funding from health care providers, of which 50 applications requesting approximately $57.8 million in funding have been selected.  These projects will serve patients in 30 states plus Washington, D.C.  The FCC’s Order provides guidance for selected participants on the eligible services they may offer, the competitive bidding process they must use to select the most cost-effective option for eligible services and equipment, and reimbursement and reporting requirements.
• Second, FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that, beginning on June 29, 2021, schools and libraries may begin to file applications for funding under the FCC’s newly established $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund to purchase laptops and tablets, Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and broadband connections for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons.  The application window will close on August 13, 2021, and funds may be used to purchase eligible equipment and services for the 2021-22 school year.  The FCC will host a virtual webinar on June 25, 2021 to provide more information on the fund, including applicant eligibility, supported equipment and services, reasonable support amounts, and the application and invoicing processes.
• Finally, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (“NTIA”) released final rules for its Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program, which will provide $268 million in grants to eligible historically Black Colleges or Universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and minority-serving institutions.  Funding may be used by eligible entities to purchase broadband service or equipment, hire IT personnel to facilitate educational instruction (including remote learning), and lend or provide equipment to eligible students or patrons.  Requirements for grant applications and other information about the program will be included in a Notice of Funding Opportunity that will be subsequently published by NTIA.  NTIA will also conduct a series of webinars to further inform the public about the program, the next of which will be held on June 23 and 24, 2021.

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With lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic, health systems and telehealth vendors are shaping their connected health strategies – and identifying key trends – for years to come.

May 04, 2021 – The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the telehealth landscape, pushing providers to adopt or expand connected health platforms and tools to meet the demand for virtual care to replace in-person services.  

Vendors are adjusting as well. Reacting to demand from the market, they’re developing platforms and tools that meet the need not only for COVID-19 surveillance and treatment, but for a post-pandemic future that will rely more heavily on concepts like remote patient monitoring, point-of-care diagnosis and virtual care.

“When healthcare weaknesses were exposed during the pandemic, telehealth helped fill in the gaps,” says Christine Storm, who leads Philips’ virtual care solutions business. “COVID-19 showed us that with the right tools, extending care outside the hospital is not only feasible, but in many cases, preferred. Our solutions need to support these evolving areas of care, which are increasingly taking place in the home, and meet the demands of the modern healthcare consumer.”

“Healthcare systems are now able to see how telemedicine will fit going forward,” adds Jason Hallock, MD, chief medical officer for SOC Telemed, which acquired Access Physicians earlier this year to build out its acute telemedicine capabilities. “The pandemic taught us much about how it will look in the future. We estimate as much as 25 percent or more of in-hospital care could be delivered more efficiently via telemedicine.”

This creates an interesting dynamic. As companies watch the healthcare space to see what they should be creating and selling, providers are looking right back at them for clues on how to address future care coordination and management needs. Mergers and acquisitions, new product lines, VC support and promising young start-ups all can factor into telehealth trends. 

Taking Advantage of the Opportunity

The pandemic pushed providers to adopt virtual care at a rapid pace. Aided by emergency federal and state measures that expanded access to and coverage of telehealth, health systems, hospitals, medical practices and clinics took whatever they could find and used it. If they could find a use for Zoom, Snapchat, Google or even a basic landline telephone to talk with patients and manage care, chances are they did.

In time, the less effective platforms (and a few companies) were weeded out, while others bolstered their capabilities. Zoom launched its own healthcare division, while Verizon fine-tuned its BlueJeans video conferencing platform – which the company had acquired in 2020 – to better suit providers who were already using it for virtual visits. Amazon expanded its telehealth offering beyond its own employees, and Microsoft acquired Nuance Communications to fill out a digital health platform that could process and integrate consults and other encounters into the medical record.

“Seemingly overnight, the healthcare industry showed incredible agility when faced with the adversity brought on by COVID-19,” Storm points out. “Technology that has previously been viewed as potentially impersonal became a lifeline to ensure continuity of patient care. Telehealth’s surge has proven invaluable. With COVID-19 forcing healthcare organizations to pivot and adapt quickly, the industry collaborated in incredible ways, and developed and distributed innovations at an unprecedented speed.”

The demand for coordinated and virtualized care created some interesting partnerships. Teladoc joined forces with Livongo to beef up its chronic care management platform, while Doctor On Demand merged with Grand Rounds Health. Bright Health, meanwhile, acquired Zipnosis, Vocera swooped in to grab PatientSafe Solutions, Accolade took in PlushCare and Cigna-backed Evernorth purchased MDLIVE. And Amwell, among the biggest players in the market, announced a partnership with Google Cloud, extended its relationship with Tyto Care and announced plans to go public.

“With the healthcare industry now becoming more open to telehealth, I think we will see more and more providers turn to remote patient monitoring and telehealth solutions to engage with patients and better understand their health outside of the doctor’s office,” says Antoine Robiliard, vice president of Withings’ health solutions business, which rolled out a series of cellular mHealth devices in February aimed at the home monitoring market. “In order for telehealth to continue to be used beyond the pandemic, I think we will see an influx of new technologies and products being developed specifically to be used to monitor vitals from home.”

Some vendors are even partnering up. In Canada, three of that country’s larger virtual care providers, Cloud DX, Maple and Curatio, have announced plans to launch a remote patient monitoring program for COVID-19 patients, called the Virtual COVID-19 Outpatient Program (VCOP). And they’re going to share the revenues.

“We’re at a critical stage right now, especially with new variants of concern which are exacerbating the resource challenges that hospitals are already facing,” Brett Belchetz, Maple’s CEO and Co-founder, said in a press release. “We’re pleased to partner on this innovative remote patient monitoring program to support healthcare facilities in coping with the influx of COVID-19 patients.”

ADVANCING THE MHEALTH MARKET

With the pandemic reducing in-person care to curb the spread of the virus, the industry turned to mHealth devices to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. Smartphone apps, wearables, smart devices and sensor-embedded clothing were used in pilots and programs aimed at detecting early signs of the virus, so that people could be identified, isolated and treated before the virus spread.

Some device makers saw an opportunity to market their products to a growing number of providers using remote patient monitoring concepts.

“The pandemic has expanded interest industry-wide in telehealth and also amplified the need for connected health devices to execute remote monitoring programs long-term,” Robiliard says.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations with healthcare providers to understand what devices and solutions they need for their telehealth programs, what vitals they most want to monitor and what pain points they’ve previously encountered with connected health solutions,” he says. “What we’ve learned is that there is a need for connected health devices that are simple for both the patients and their providers to use long-term. If a connected health device is difficult for patients to set up and use daily, and providers have to go through extra steps to access their patients’ data, the telehealth program won’t be successful no matter what data the product provides.”

“Managing chronic health conditions and access to medical care became a more mainstream conversation and an even bigger challenge during the pandemic,” says Ranndy Kellogg, president and CEO of connected device maker OMRON Healthcare, whose new VitalSight platform is designed to integrate the company’s connected devices into an RPM program that melds with the EMR. “Recent reports show that heart attack death rates have more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic with fewer patients going to the hospital when experiencing chest pain or other symptoms. One hundred and sixteen million U.S. adults are hypertensive… . More than 37 million Americans have uncontrolled stage 2 hypertension, which carries greater risk of heart attack and stroke.”

“The last year marked an awakening to telehealth and technologies that will aid in remote connections from patients to their physicians and care teams,” he adds. “Leading health systems and physicians have expressed interest in remote patient monitoring, and consumers are now more willing to use telehealth tools to manage their conditions as a result of social distancing measures.”

This is also spurring the consumer health market, with companies like Fitbit, Apple and Garmin developing new wearables and expanded mHealth platforms that allow consumers to do more of their own monitoring at home. They’re even partnering with companies, colleges and sport teams to provide monitoring devices and platforms for employees, students, staff and athletes – first for COVID-19, and later for other viruses and even chronic concerns.

THE BUZZ AROUND REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING

RPM has been slowly gathering momentum for the past few years, with pilots and programs aimed at giving providers access to tools that monitor their patients at home, in between doctors’ visits or after they’ve been discharged from the hospital.

COVID-19 pushed that concept into overdrive. Suddenly everyone was looking for a way to keep patients at home, rather than in overcrowded and overstressed hospitals and medical clinics. RPM offered an ideal opportunity to monitor and treat infected patients from afar, isolating them while giving doctors and nurses the opportunity to treat more patients at a safe distance.

As the pandemic wears out its welcome, providers want to keep their RPM programs going, by treating different populations. This would include those with chronic conditions, patients in need of post-discharge rehab, even those who might otherwise be in a skilled nursing facility. 

RPM “is here,” says Hallock, of SOC Telemed. “With telemedicine it is relatively easy to provide care that looks much like it does in the hospital at home. Simple monitoring can assist the not-very-sick at home. That’s easy to visualize. More comprehensive strategies such as bedside nurses paired with multi-specialty telemedicine technology are the keys to the ‘hospital at home’ concept.”

At Philips, Storm says providers are looking for solutions that address a wide range of services that previously had been done in the hospital.

“By taking a holistic approach to acute care, from monitoring patients before an admission through post-discharge, we can activate timely interventions, reduce readmissions and better allocate resources according to a patient’s risk,” she says. “For example, for acute patients that would typically be admitted and monitored by a physician during rounds, when possible, we’ll start to see organizations pivot to remote patient monitoring to manage these monitoring phases of acute care from within the home.”

“In addition to acute care, for both COVID-19 patients and those with pre-existing medical conditions or non COVID-related health issues, remote patient monitoring capabilities have proven crucial,” she adds. “Moving beyond the pandemic, these solutions will continue to enable faster, quality care while keeping patients in the comfort of their homes. Remote patient monitoring can be enabled through a variety of connected solutions – from wearable sensors, patient-owned technology to connected devices and predictive algorithms.”

In addition, RPM programs give providers an opportunity to test out new technologies and care plans.

“Telehealth has much broader use beyond one-off video chats or phone calls to support complex care for patients both within the hospital and at home,” Storm says. “Specifically, for at-home telehealth, the value shines through when it comes to chronic condition management. For patients with chronic conditions, like sleep apnea, cardiac disease or COPD, cost and quality are significant variables in being able to continue to age and heal at home. Frequent visits to the doctor’s office, and the risk of readmissions due to an adverse event, limit one’s quality of life. These patients can use telehealth to stay connected to providers to manage their conditions from home, preventing them from hospital admission when possible, while still ensuring they have the oversight they need.”

With RPM comes the ability to pull more data from the home setting. This also means finding the right technology to sort and stratify that data.

“We learned the role health informatics, like data integration and artificial intelligence, play in navigating effective transitions of care,” Storm says. “All too often, transitions of care settings can lead to blind spots and impact a patient’s outcomes. Data-driven, connected care solutions can provide clinicians with access to patient insights anytime, anywhere, and helps them determine the most appropriate course of action and setting for care delivery. COVID-19 has demonstrated the necessity of triaging and monitoring patients according to risk, managing patients from home accordingly, and optimizing allocation of hospital resources.”

“While the growth of telehealth means a significant increase in data capture taking place outside of the hospital, health informatics, data integration, and cloud technology can help accomplish connectivity in a secure, scalable way and provide patient management wherever and whenever care is being deployed,” she adds. “All entities in the healthcare industry, including providers, payers and patients, must work to absorb telehealth into existing clinical and operational workflows to optimize location-independent care delivery.”

“To ensure data can be accessed and shared seamlessly across settings, and that our innovation is interoperable and secure, it’s essential that the informatics behind these solutions mature with them, activating a secure flow of data where and when it’s needed, in a vendor-agnostic way. Through the cloud, data can be accessed anytime and anywhere – including the home, outpatient clinic, and traditional hospital environments.”

That strategy ties neatly into Converge, a new service recently unveiled by Amwell that seeks to gather all telehealth and RPM services – including connected devices – under one platform and codebase. Company co-founder and CEO Roy Schoenberg cited “the dire need for simplicity, speed and reliability” as the impetus for Converge.

“Telehealth was asked in no uncertain terms to save the day,” he said during AmWell’s user conference. And that means gathering all of the tools available together onto “a single chassis … for the digital distribution of care.”

Providers will also be continuing to pull their connected health programs together on one enterprise-wide platform. Prior to COVID-19, many of those programs had sprung up on their own in individual departments, hospitals or clinics, spurred on by one particular use case or physician champion. But now those disparate programs need to be pulled out of their silos and consolidated.

“As health systems assess what they achieved last year, they are now able to focus on the end-users, which include patients, nurses and care teams,” Hallock, of SOC Telemed, points out. “There is a growing understanding that a system cannot allow the end-user to access telemedicine 20 to 40 different ways. Any business – healthcare included – that has 40 ways of doing the same thing isn’t doing something right.”

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR IN-PATIENT TELEHEALTH

The COVID-19 crisis also taught health systems the value of telemedicine platforms inside the hospital. Many are looking into technology that can improve patient monitoring without increasing room visits, as well as platforms that allow nurses to monitor multiple patients.

“Another place we’re seeing growth for telehealth is the implementation of centralized command center models to improve care transitions,” Storm says. “The intelligence that comes with collecting, analyzing and representing data, which allows providers to act on it with confidence, plays a critical role in managing the care of our sickest patients and informing resource allocation decisions within the hospital.”

“For example, the ICU is the most expensive area of a hospital with high mortality and resource constraints,” she points out. “In the face of a shortage of intensivists, tele-ICUs can act as an air traffic control center, and mitigate data and access challenges, extending critical care resources to the bedside no matter where the hospital is. Particularly during COVID-19, these solutions became essential to responding to ICU surges and controlling infection spread – by extending monitoring capabilities beyond the bedside, clinicians could avoid repeatedly entering a COVID-19 patient’s rooms while maintaining line-of-sight into their condition.”

And as the nation moves past the pandemic, health systems are realizing they should keep these platforms in place, not only to be prepared for the next pandemic or public health emergency but also to make in-patient care more streamlined and adaptive.

SHINING A LIGHT ON INFRASTRUCTURE

The popularity of RPM programs also puts the spotlight on telemedicine platforms that handle the gathering and transmission of data from home to hospital and back again. For a long time, that market was dominated by Philips, Qualcomm (with its 2net hub, later farmed out to Capsule Tech and acquired this year by Philips) and Validic.

More companies are jumping into that sandbox, operating on the idea that these platforms need to be less expansive and complex – to attract budget-conscious hospitals and clinics – and more nimble – to include the growing range of mHealth devices, including those on the consumer market.

Even providers are getting involved. In April, the Mayo Clinic unveiled the Remote Diagnostic and Management Platform (RDMP), designed to integrate devices and AI resources on one platform to support clinical decision-making.

“The dramatically increased use of remote patient telemetry devices coupled with the rapidly accelerating development of AI and machine learning algorithms has the potential to revolutionize diagnostic medicine,” John Halamka, MD, president of the Mayo Clinic Platform, said in a press release. “With RDMP, clinicians will have access to best-in-class algorithms and care protocols and will be able to serve more patients effectively in remote care settings. The platform will also enable patients to take more control of their health and make better decisions based on insights delivered directly to them.”

The Mayo Clinic spun out two new companies to market that platform: Lucem Health, launched in a partnership with Commure to help providers and mHealth innovators gather and analyze data from any device involved in a remote patient telemetry setting; and Anumana, launched in a partnership with nference to target the cardiac care space.

Stel Life, a small Philadelphia-based company that launched in 2018, focused its marketing efforts around the Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program and Connected Care Pilot Program, both of which are issuing millions of dollars in grants to healthcare providers looking to improve their broadband networks to boost telehealth programs.

Company CEO Sid Kandan says providers jumping into the RPM space need the technology in the home to link devices back to the hospital and the electronic health record. That’s where the Stel Vitals Hub comes into play.

“COVID-19 gave us a huge increase in demand,” he says. “And with the FCC programs we see where we can keep that growth growing.”

Kandan says the company has been analyzing how the FCC grants were awarded, what the money has been used for and how the winning providers are setting up their RPM platforms. This, in turn, helps the company to tailor its products to meet that demand, and to anticipate what they’ll need in the future to sustain that growth.

RPM “will be a standard of care in the future,” he says. “That’s where the market will go.”

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HHS is kicking off Black Maternal Health Week by offering three four-year grants, totaling $12 million, to projects aimed at boosting maternal health outcomes among underserved populations in rural America.

By Eric Wicklund

April 13, 2021 – Federal officials are making $12 million available for three projects that aim to approve maternal and obstetrics care for underserved populations in rural America, and they expect telehealth to be part of the program.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) Federal Office of Rural Health Policy comes as federal officials kick off Black Maternal Health Week. The HRSA’s Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) program, which will offer the three award recipients grants of up to $1 million annually for four years, aims to boost outcomes in rural and underserved population by testing new models of connected care.

“Improving maternal health outcomes – particularly among Black women – is priority for the Biden administration and for the Department,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, said in a press release issued Monday. “Expanding access to health insurance coverage, preventative care and investing in rural maternity care is one step forward. With the American Rescue Plan, President Biden gave states tools to combat the racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths by providing an easier pathway for states to ensure mothers access to the care they need after birth. Continuous health care coverage reduces health care costs and improves outcomes.”

In an HRSA release highlighting the RMOMS grant program, officials said the three award recipients would have four years to plan and launch programs that improve maternal obstetrics care in rural communities. Those programs would have four areas of focus: risk-appropriate care approaches in rural regions; continuum of care through network approaches; telehealth and specialty care; and financial sustainability.

“The program will allow awardees to test models in order to address unmet needs for their target population, which could include populations who have historically suffered from poorer health outcomes, health disparities and other inequities,” the release says.

Applicants must be part of a network serving HRSA-designated rural areas that includes at least two rural hospitals or critical access hospitals (CAHs), at least one federally qualified health center (FQHC), at least one Level II and/or Level IV facility (as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), locally and/or regionally available social services in the continuum of care and the state Medicaid agency.

The HRSA will host a webinar on the program on April 22. Applications are due by June 4.

HHS isn’t the only organization taking a hard look at racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes. Two months ago, Congress saw the introduction of a package of 12 bills called the Black Maternal Momnibus Act of 2021.

Among other things, the package of bills calls on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to consider payment models that improve the integration of telehealth services into maternal healthcare programs and establish grant programs for models of care that include access to broadband internet and remote patient monitoring services and programs that use mHealth tools to address social determinants of health.

Other bills in the package, which is endorsed by more than 190 organizations, would make targeted investments in programs that address social determinants of health, fund community-based organizations and programs that might use connected health tools and platforms to address issues like substance abuse, pre- and post-partum mental health, veteran care and building the perinatal workforce, and improve data collection efforts and quality measures to improve health outcomes and access to care.

In addition, several of the 14 applicants selected in January’s first round of the Federal Communications Commission’s Connected Care Pilot Program aim to use funding to launch or expand connected health programs that address high-risk pregnancies and maternal health outcomes.

“As maternal mortality rates continue to drop around the world, they are rising in the U.S., leaving behind devastated families and children who will grow up never knowing their moms,” US Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), who co-founded and co-chairs the Black Maternal Health Caucus and is one of the co-sponsors of the Black Maternal Momnibus Act, said in a press release. “This crisis demands urgent attention and serious action to save the lives of Black mothers and all women of color and birthing people across the county.”

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A $3.2 billion program spun out of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 aims to help low-income and underserved communities gain access to broadband services – and make it easier to access telehealth.

By Eric Wicklund

January 29, 2021 – The Federal Communications Commission will hold a round-table discussion next month on a new program designed to help underserved households improve broadband access for telehealth and other services.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 that then-President Donald Trump signed in late 2020, sets aside $3.2 billion for the program, which aims to expand broadband and connected health resources during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The hard truth is that the cost of broadband service can be difficult for many families, especially those struggling financially in the ongoing pandemic,” FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a press release. “We need to fix this, and this program promises to help ease the burden so families can access the telehealth, online learning and job opportunities that are essential to daily life.”

Federal support for expanding broadband access – long considered one of the biggest barriers to telehealth adoption in rural and underserved areas – is one of the few bright spots for connected health in recent months. Neither the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 2021 Physician Fee Schedule nor the latest relief bill went as far as many had hoped in promoting telehealth access and coverage beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

The FCC, meanwhile, recently announced the first 14 award recipients for the $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, which aims to improve broadband connectivity for telehealth and mHealth programs in underserved parts of the country. And at next month’s board meeting the commission is scheduled to discuss plans for the re-launch of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the CARES Act program that ran out of its $200 million budget last July and was given almost $250 million in the relief bill to keep going this year.

Next month’s round-table, organized by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, will gather advice on the new program, “through which eligible households may receive a discount off the cost of broadband service and certain connected devices during an emergency period relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and participating providers can be reimbursed for such discounts.”

According to the FCC, through the program, eligible providers will offer eligible households a monthly discount of up to $50 ($75 on Tribal lands) for internet connectivity and associated equipment. They may also supply eligible households with a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or other connected device for use during the public health emergency, at a reimbursable cost of up to $100.

Rural, remote and underserved populations often have problems accessing telehealth because they don’t have reliable broadband and/or lack the resources to acquire the necessary technology, and healthcare providers won’t see success in those parts of the country if they don’t have a reliable platform on which to deliver care.

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The $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill signed into law by President Trump Dec. 27 offers Medicare coverage for telemental health and rural hospitals and funding for broadband connectivity, but criticism of the bill remains. The reason: the bill doesn’t extend the emergency telehealth access and the coverage provisions offered early on during the pandemic.

Lobbying to make at least some of those provisions permanent were the American Telemedicine Association, Alliance for Connected Care and Connected Health Initiative, some healthcare providers and dozens of lawmakers.

“The noticeable lack of permanent reform or a guaranteed extension of the telehealth flexibilities in this relief package is disheartening for the millions of Americans who relied on telehealth to access care,” and our healthcare providers still on the frontlines of the pandemic,” ATA CEO Ann Mond Johnson said in a press release issued after Congress passed the bill. “We believe arbitrary restrictions on telehealth must be permanently removed to make way for a modernized and more accessible healthcare system.”

For telemental health, the bill requires patients and providers to meet in person within six months of an initial telehealth session and then meet in person for exams at regular intervals, complicating care for those at home.

“We are disappointed that the telemental health provision includes an in-person requirement, as we strongly believe a provider-patient relationship can be established via telehealth,” Johnson said. “Particularly in light of the crippling provider shortage, this in-person pre-existing relationship requirement will unnecessarily deprive Medicare beneficiaries of telemental health options, and we are hopeful Congress will remove this provision in the near future.”

In a separate news release, the Alliance for Connected Care said that “[a]dding an in-person requirement prevents people that are homebound, transient, or have existing healthcare access challenges from using telehealth – really negating so much of the value that telehealth creates in helping people that NEED expanded access to care.”

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