FCC Approves Final Set of COVID-19 Telehealth Program Applications

Commission Has Now Approved $200 Million in Funding Applications to Expand Telehealth Services During COVID-19 Pandemic

The Federal Communications Commission’s (@FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau approved an additional 25 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $10.73 million in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic. Since the beginning of the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the agency has approved 539 funding applications in 47 states plus Washington, D.C. and Guam for a total of $200 million in funding—the amount of money provided by Congress in the CARES Act.

“In late March, Congress tasked the FCC with developing from scratch a new $200 million COVID-19 Telehealth Program to help combat COVID-19, support health care providers, and make it easier for Americans to safely access vital healthcare services,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “And just over three months later, the Commission has approved 539 applications, allocating the full $200 million for worthy projects across the country. Credit for this tremendous accomplishment is due to Commission staff who went the extra mile to set up the program quickly and process funding requests promptly but thoroughly. I thank them for all they’ve done to make this program a success.

“This final tranche of approved funding applications includes recipients in both urban and rural areas of the country, and from coast to coast. We have already seen the program’s positive impact on expanding access to telehealth services and promoting the well-being of patients and healthcare providers across the country. And I look forward to seeing how those who are awarded funding today will help patients from New York to Guam, and Alabama to North Dakota.”

Below is a list of health care providers that were approved for funding:

• Alivio Medical Center, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $510,190 for laptop computers, tablets, video monitors, network upgrades, remote monitoring devices, and a remote monitoring platform to implement secure telehealth services across all sites to serve many patients remotely, to continue to serve COVID-19 patients in an isolated environment, and to deploy remote patient monitoring devices to assess and manage high-risk patients using real-time information.
• AltaPointe Health Systems, in Mobile, Alabama, was awarded $842,637 for telemedicine carts, tablets, laptop computers, remote monitoring devices, a remote patient monitoring platform, network upgrades, a telehealth platform, and videoconferencing equipment and software to provide connected care services to high-risk patients with chronic conditions in their homes to monitor vital signs and mental health status, to increase telehealth visits for vulnerable patients while self-isolating in their homes, and to enable providers working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic to engage patients from off-site or office locations.
• California Telehealth Network, in Sacramento, California, was awarded $1,000,000 for laptop computers, smartphones, mobile hotspots, a videoconferencing software license, and remote monitoring devices to offer member hospitals telehealth technical assistance, customized emergency workflows for virtual treatment of patients, network devices and network design support, virtual visit software, and the ability to expand telehealth training and support for rural and medically underserved clinics and hospitals in California.
• Cambridge Hospital, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded $535,172 for tablets, telemedicine carts, remote patient monitoring devices, desktop and laptop computers, and videoconferencing equipment and software to reduce the need for patient in-person care at a clinic and to limit unnecessary patient trips to the Emergency Room by allowing patients to communicate directly with primary care staff for diagnosis and treatment and by using connected devices to remotely monitor patients who are at high risk for COVID-19.
• Charleston Area Medical Center, in Charleston, West Virginia, was awarded $781,964 for remote monitoring devices, a remote patient monitoring platform, network upgrades, and a telehealth platform to improve outpatient care using telehealth capabilities and to develop a telehealth service to assist rural West Virginia hospitals and patients by giving specialists a method to connect to other hospitals to provide treatment via telemedicine.
• CHI St. Alexius Health, in Dickinson, North Dakota, was awarded $124,053 for telemedicine carts, tablets, remote monitoring devices, and a remote monitoring platform to allow health care teams to remotely monitor, assess, create plans of care, and treat COVID-19 patients while minimizing healthcare provider exposure, to connect with colleagues in larger referral hospitals to provide rapid evaluation and management of COVID-19 patients and other critically ill or injured patients, and to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
• Community Health Centers on Benton, in Corvallis, Oregon, was awarded $146,390 for laptop computers, remote monitoring devices, and a subscription to a remote specialist consultation service to provide virtual preventive care, screening, and treatment services and to maintain access to services and equipment for high-risk and vulnerable patients.
• Community Medical Wellness Centers, in Long Beach, California, was awarded $164,474 for a telehealth platform, laptop computers, network upgrades, smartphones, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment and software to expand telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide weekly medical and behavioral health care for high-risk patients.
• Comprehensive Community Health Centers, in Glendale, California, was awarded $298,659 for laptop and desktop computers, network upgrades, and a telehealth platform to expand the use of telehealth to provide remote care and supportive services for all patients needing medical, dental, and behavioral health treatments.
• Comprehensive Mental Health Center, in Tacoma, Washington, was awarded $269,104 for laptop computers, a videoconference license, and network upgrades to increase access to mental health services for individuals in Pierce County by increasing the use of technology and software licensing for robust and reliable access to telehealth.
• Crook County Medical Services District, in Sundance, Wyoming, was awarded $240,428 for remote monitoring devices, laptop computers, and videoconferencing equipment and software to upgrade existing telehealth capabilities so health care providers can provide remote medical care to the patient population across 3,000 square miles in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana.
• Family Centers Health Care, in Greenwich, Connecticut, was awarded $338,909 for laptop computers and a telehealth platform to remotely provide primary, dental, and mental health services to children and adults living in public housing communities and the surrounding neighborhoods.
• Guam Community Health Center, in Dededo, Guam, was awarded $321,244 for tablets, smartphones, mobile voice minutes, and a patient telehealth application that will be used by health care providers and patients for telehealth diagnosis, consults and treatment, to simplify communications between patients and providers, and to ensure patients have sufficient connectivity to seek and receive treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Medstar Health, in Hyattsville, Maryland, was awarded $976,679 for tablets, telemedicine carts, desktop computers, videoconferencing equipment, a remote patient monitoring platform, and a care management platform to provide a single, integrated system of care that reaches 1.6 million system patients with free video telehealth screening conducted by physicians and schedules outpatient care video visits, provider-to-provider remote consult services, remote monitoring care at patient homes, and telehealth services for hospitalized patients to stay in touch with family members.
• MultiCare Medical Associates, in Tacoma, Washington, was awarded $333,781 for telemedicine carts, tablets, remote monitoring devices, and videoconferencing equipment and software to move health care providers onto the virtual platform, to monitor patients whose care has been delayed due to COVID-19, to monitor baby and mother vital signs during a virtual visit, and to use tablets mounted onto wheeled stands with speaker and power attachments as scalable inpatient telemedicine hardware for several use cases, including family virtual visitation, telehealth rounding, and consultations.
• New York Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, in Cortland Manor, New York, was awarded $713,611 for telemedicine carts, tablet computers, and a telehealth platform to establish a telehealth intensive care unit that provides clinicians access to real-time patient data for multiple patients, to support health care staff with remote patient care during daily rounds, and to increase specialty care access via telehealth consultations to inpatient and outpatient sites.
• North Mississippi Medical Center, in Tupelo, Mississippi, was awarded $883,702 for a telehealth platform, tablets, telemedicine carts, videoconferencing equipment, remote monitoring devices, and a remote monitoring platform to enable high-risk, vulnerable populations to safely care for themselves at home and receive virtual care with telehealth, to enable hospitalized patients to safely receive virtual care from their primary and specialty care providers, and to provide the general population with access to telehealth services and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
• North Penn Comprehensive Health, in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, was awarded $102,584 for laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment, tablets, and network upgrades to support mobility for clinicians who will provide remote care from outpatient facilities or home to COVID-19 patients for telehealth consultations and remote monitoring.
• OCHIN, in Portland, Oregon, was awarded $1,000,000 for laptop computers, smartphones, mobile hotspots, remote monitoring devices, and videoconferencing software to enhance the emergency telehealth response for low-income and underserved patients served by 54 health care providers across 12 states through telehealth technical assistance, customized emergency workflows for virtual treatment of patients with and without COVID-19, procurement and configuration of connected devices and network design support, and virtual visit software installation.
• Recovery Consultants of Atlanta, in Decatur, Georgia, was awarded $26,733 for mobile hotspots, smartphones, laptop computers, and a telehealth platform to provide medical and behavioral health services, including mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
• Spanish Peaks Behavioral Health Centers, in Pueblo, Colorado, was awarded $55,380 for laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment and software licenses, tablets, and smartphones to increase telehealth capabilities for remote new patient exams, medication management, treatment of chronic conditions, and other care services.
• St. Luke’s Hospital, in Duluth, Minnesota, was awarded $299,118 for tablets, a telehealth platform, smartphones, remote monitoring devices, and a remote patient monitoring platform to conduct outreach to the most vulnerable patients with chronic conditions who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and arrange for virtual visits with provider-supplied tablets for patients while the provider devices will allow them to provide optimal patient care.
• Texas A&M Health Family Clinic, in Bryan, Texas, was awarded $110,295 for tablets, mobile hotspots, and remote monitoring devices to launch a telehealth program focused on monitoring diabetes patients, with the clinic loaning to patients mobile telehealth kits containing a tablet, hotspot, blood pressure cuff and glucometer equipped with Bluetooth technology, and monitoring and treatment applications loaded onto the tablet.
• Thundermist Health Center, in Warwick, Rhode Island, was awarded $128,347 for a telehealth platform, telecommunications equipment upgrade, desktop and laptop computers, and videoconferencing equipment to implement telehealth solutions for all lines of service including medical, dental, and behavioral health during the COVID-19 crisis for a highly vulnerable patient population suffering from heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and HIV.
• Westside Family Healthcare, in Wilmington, Delaware, was awarded $524,062 for a telehealth platform, remote monitoring devices, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment to ensure clinicians and care teams have access to reliable, secure internet services to provide remote care, to distribute remote patient monitoring systems, and to deploy internet connected devices and equipment for clinicians and patients to facilitate effective, secure visits.

Learn more about the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program and view a complete list of funding recipients to date.