In New FCC Funding Round, 100 Providers Get $48M to Advance Telehealth
The agency has approved provider applications from across the country in its sixth and final funding round, which will be used to support the growth and enhancement of telehealth services.
The Federal Communications Commission is providing $47.89 million in new funding to 100 healthcare organizations with the aim of boosting telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency approved 100 applications for funding submitted to its COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was set up to help providers offer connected care services to patients in their homes or at mobile locations in response to the public health emergency.
In the latest funding round, Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire; the Dickinson County Healthcare System in Gaylord, Michigan; and San Ysidro Health in San Diego, all received $1 million.
A number of providers received close to a $1 million, including Kaweah Delta Health Care District in Visalia, California, which was awarded $994,003; Neighborhood Health in Alexandria, Virginia, which received $968,632; and United Community Family Services in Norwich, Connecticut, which was awarded $946,016.
Notably, the California Rural Indian Health Board, a consortium of six providers, received $638,914 to purchase telemedicine carts, Bluetooth-enabled medical devices, computers, and telecommunication video licenses.
To ensure wider distribution of funds in healthcare provider shortage areas and Tribal communities, the FCC established a new rating system last year for applications that factored in the hardest-hit and lowest-income areas.
"The pandemic has forced us to think differently about how to deliver health care services and the FCC has risen to the challenge through a number of telehealth programs, including our COVID-19 Telehealth Program," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in the press release. "From offering remote behavioral health services in Decatur, Illinois to supporting the underinsured and those living below the poverty line in Dade City, Florida, the health care providers announced today offer just a snapshot of the breadth of connected health care services this program has helped support in the past year."
A complete list of approved providers and the funding amounts they received can be found here.
The FFC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program was initially launched as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in 2020. Last March, the agency relaunched the program, and this most recent funding round marks the sixth and final phase of the relaunched program.
In all, the relaunched program has supported 447 providers nationwide by providing about $249.95 million in funds. The round prior to this one saw 68 providers receiving $42.7 million.
Hospitals and health systems that have received the funding in the past are using the money to support their telehealth programs in various ways.
For example, St. Louis-based Mercy recently announced that it will distribute $2.2 million in FCC funds to its rural health facilities in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The money will primarily be used to buy telemedicine carts and monitors. Meanwhile, Tampa General Hospital plans to use part of its $1 million grant from the FCC to provide its Global Emerging Diseases Institute with remote patient monitoring devices.
In addition to its COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC is taking aim at the widespread issue of broadband access, the lack of which cuts off access to telehealth as well. Last November, the agency announced plans to invest more than $700 million in expanding broadband access.
