FCC Extends Telehealth Program Purchase Deadline

The FCC has extended the deadline for its telehealth program recipients to use their money to buy eligible devices and services to the end of the year.

The FCC has given out $200 million in CARES Act telehealth subsidies for healthcare providers to purchase tablets and smart phones and other telehealth provision tech, as well as broadband service. 

The FCC stopped accepting applications July 8 because the money had run out.

Recipients had until Sept. 30 to spend the money, but the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau said Monday (Sept. 28) that it had received numerous requests for extensions citing, among other things, state procurement requirements, and COVID-19- and hurricane-related delays.

The bureau said it expected others could have similar issues. 

“Based on the number of extension requests the Bureau has received and the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau believes that extending the purchase/implementation deadline until December 31, 2020, for all COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding recipients is reasonable under the circumstances and is also consistent with the purpose of the CARES Act,” the bureau said.