Community Centers, Navajo Nation Get FCC Funding for Telehealth Services

Another 26 healthcare providers are receiving funding from the Federal Communications Commission’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program for connected health services aimed at improving care management and coordination during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

The group, the fifth to qualify for funding under the $200 million program and the largest to date, brings the total to 56 providers in 23 states, amounting to $24.9 million.

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The COVID-19 Telehealth Program is not a grant program. To receive disbursements, healthcare providers will be required to submit an invoicing form and supporting documentation to receive reimbursement for eligible expenses and services.

The latest round of recipients is as follows:

• Kennedy Krieger Children’s Hospital in Baltimore was awarded $994,950 to expand its video-based telehealth and remote patient monitoring services serving vulnerable and high-risk children, adolescents and adults with disabilities;
• The Navajo Nation Department of Health, based in Window Rock, AZ, was awarded $954,990 to provide home healthcare and RPM services throughout the Navajo Nation;
• The MA FQHC Telehealth Consortium, a Boston-based network of 28 community health centers, is getting $939,627 to expand phone- and telehealth-based programs and use mHealth devices like connected thermometers, pulse oximeters and blood pressure monitors for both COVID-19 and chronic care patients;
• Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City was awarded $862,950 to provide RPM services to pediatric patients suffering from at least one pre-existing chronic condition;
• Community Health Centers, an eight-site network in Burlington, VT, was awarded $782,903 to provide telehealth visits through the use of connected devices to its primarily low-income patient population, who face barriers to accessing primary care, psychiatry, behavioral health and dental care services;
• Holyoke Health Center in Holyoke, MA was awarded $668,335 to launch a telehealth program for HIV infectious disease services and management; substance use disorder treatment and adherence counseling; and nutrition, medication management and oral health services, thereby reserving on-site staff and services for COVID-19 cases;
• The Wright Center Medical Group in Scranton, PA is getting $629,051 to deploy RPM kits and expand its video-based telehealth platform for its high-risk and vulnerable populations, including older adults, homeless individuals and individuals in rural areas;
• Greater Baden Medical Services, based in Brandywine, MD, was awarded $537,747 to expand its video telehealth services and RPM platform to provide care for low-income patients who would otherwise visit emergency rooms overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients;
• Delaware Valley Community Health in Philadelphia is getting $504,880 to expand its telehealth platform;
• The Chinatown Service Center, a California-based federally qualified health center with locations in Los Angeles, Monterey Park, San Gabriel and Alhambra, is getting $460,572 for new telehealth programs providing primary care, mental health and dental services to low-income and vulnerable patient populations;
• The Children’s Home of Cincinnati was awarded $456,871 to expand telehealth and RPM programs serving displaced low-income populations throughout the greater Cincinnati area;
• The El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center, also known as El Rio Health, a 12-site network in Tucson, AZ, was awarded $444,462 to provide video-based telehealth services and RPM for chronic care patients;
• Health Access for All, doing business as the Angeles Community Health Center in Los Angeles, is getting $442,376 to launch an RPM service for patients who are most susceptible to COVID-19, including chronically ill and elderly patients;
• The Fair Haven Community Health Clinic in New Haven, CT is getting $430,438 to provide its COVID-19 high-risk and vulnerable patient population with video and voice consults and chronic condition management via an RPM platform;
• The Brazos Valley Community Action Agency, doing business as HealthPoint in College Station, TX, was awarded $415,621 to expand RPM services to its high-risk rural population;
• Ampala Health, a 12-site heath system based in Yuba City, CA, is getting $332,079 to expand its video-based telehealth platform to COVID-19 testing centers throughout northern California;
• Avenue 360 Health and Wellness of Houston is getting $297,975 to provide video telemedicine services to low-income and vulnerable patients at risk for COVID-19 in public housing locations throughout Harris County;
• The Wilmington Community Clinic, with sites in Los Angeles and Wilmington, CA, was awarded $232,291 to launch RPM, video- and voice-based telehealth services to low-income and vulnerable patient populations in Los Angeles County;
• The Pomona Community Health Center in Pomona, CA was awarded $209,933 to launch video and phone-based telehealth services for medical, dental and behavioral health needs to high-risk and vulnerable community members who are either afraid to access services or have been advised to stay at home due to multiple at-risk health conditions;
• Matagorda Episcopal Health Outreach in Bay City, TX was awarded $193,038 to provide telehealth services for COVID-19 care as well as infectious disease treatment, psychiatric services and other acute and chronic conditions;
• The Community Health Center of Lubbock, TX, was awarded $143,584 to expand its telehealth platform to limit exposure of patients and staff to COVID-19-positive patients while continuing to provide care to vulnerable patients;
• South Plains Rural Health Services in Levelland, TX was awarded $109,365 to expand its telehealth platform for COVID-19 patients as well as its vulnerable, low-income, uninsured and under-insured patients;
• The Linn County Department of Health Services in Albany, OR is getting $56,332 to use telehealth to provide primary care, mental health and maternal health services to its community, a third of which lives in rural and remote areas;
• Spectrum Health Services in Philadelphia is getting $40,417 to launch a telehealth platform to care for what has been described as the most impoverished patient base in the city;
• The Parker Health Group in Somerset, NJ is getting $28,838 to provide physical, occupational  and speech therapy through telehealth for elderly members of the community; and
• The Opportunities Industrialization Center, also known as the OIC Family Medical Center, in Rocky Mount, NC was awarded $27,468 to expand its RPM program to provide connected devices to patients infected by COVID-19 and high-risk patients suffering from chronic conditions.