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The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau on Wednesday approved an additional 67 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program.  Healthcare providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $20.18 million in funding to provide telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic.  To date, the FCC’s COVID-19 Telehealth Program, which was authorized by the CARES Act, has approved funding for 305 healthcare providers in 42 states plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $104.98 million in funding.

“Since the adoption of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the FCC has acted quickly to review applications and approve funding so that more patients can be treated safely at home,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “We have already awarded funds to healthcare providers across our country, from Maine to the Navajo Nation, Washington to Florida, and Minnesota to Mississippi.  And we are already seeing the program’s positive impact on the health and wellness of our communities.  To give just one example, the program is enabling the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to remotely monitor children who have received organ transplants and are thus immunocompromised.  Additionally, the program is focused on mental as well as physical health.  More than 100 mental and behavioral healthcare providers have been awarded funding to ensure that their patients receive the treatment and support they need during the pandemic.  We will continue processing applications as quickly as we can in order to promote worthy telehealth projects across the country.”

Below is a list of healthcare providers that were approved for funding June 10:

  • Access Community Health Centers, in Madison, Wisconsin, was awarded $92,323 for laptop computers, videoconferencing equipment, and a telehealth platform subscription to offer real-time video for patient telehealth visits and to continue providing both routine and emergency care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Access Community Health Network, in Chicago, Illinois, was awarded $130,401 for desktop computers, a video telehealth platform, video monitors, and other telehealth equipment to expand the types and amount of telehealth visits offered to patients for primary care services and behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Albert Einstein Medical Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $315,357 for a triage software license, a telehealth platform, laptop computers, tablets, videoconferencing equipment and software licenses, and a remote patient monitoring platform to serve a patient population at increased risk for adverse outcomes from COVID-19 infection and to help triage the busiest emergency department in the city.
  • Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, in Los Angeles, California, was awarded $295,215 for telemedicine carts, desktop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, videoconferencing software licenses, and network upgrades to allow care to be provided for the entire patient population virtually, including high-risk and vulnerable patients in chronic care management services who are vulnerable to COVID-19.
  • Atlantic General Hospital, in Berlin, Maryland, was awarded $51,425 for a telehealth platform subscription and telehealth equipment that will allow patients to keep medical appointments, obtain additional care and treatment from 45 primary and specialty providers, and screen for potential COVID-19 symptoms, all from their home.
  • Aultman Hospital, in Canton, Ohio, was awarded $294,749 for a telehealth platform, desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile hotspots, network upgrades, and telehealth equipment so patients can access medical care on any smartphone, tablet or computer, and receive COVID-19 care, urgent, behavioral, and primary care, and other services, including the ability for one-on-one communication with an experienced, board-certified physician.
  • Bayside Clinic, in Anahuac, Texas, was awarded $399,038 for a mobile health care kiosk, laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to increase remote work capabilities for medical staff and to provide on-demand virtual care with video and remote diagnostic equipment that allows a patient to present remotely to different clinic locations depending on demand or staff shortages, to see a provider who may be quarantined at home, or to connect with specialists located in neighboring big cities.
  • Calhoun County Mental Health, in Pittsboro, Mississippi, was awarded $102,397 for laptop computers, video monitors, and network upgrades that will allow staff members to connect remotely with high risk or vulnerable patients through telehealth and offer therapy, medication evaluation and monitoring, and other behavioral health services.
  • Children’s Aid, in Bronx, New York, was awarded $73,848 for desktop and laptop computers, tablets, software upgrades, and video equipment to allow clinicians to provide video and telephone consultations and remote behavioral health treatment to children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic who have serious risk factors and who are without access to regular medical care.
  • Community Guidance Center, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, was awarded $70,198 for tablets and videoconferencing equipment and software to continue to offer all mental and behavioral health services to the high volume of new patients during the COVID-19 pandemic using telehealth.
  • Community Hospital North, in Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded $872,363 for telehealth platform subscriptions, laptop computers, tablets, and videoconferencing equipment and licenses to equip new, separate COVID-19 facilities with the full suite of monitoring technology available throughout the rest of the hospital and to facilitate real-time remote video communications between patients and clinicians.
  • Community Healthcare Network, in New York, New York, was awarded $180,734 for laptop computers and network upgrades to expand and improve the delivery of telehealth services to its patient population by using telehealth for all non-urgent visits, increasing video consults as appropriate, and providing treatment and monitoring for chronic conditions, including diabetes, asthma, mental health, psychiatry, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.
  • Fairview Health Services, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was awarded $598,000 for connected tablets to assigned patients in the inpatient setting for video visit capabilities with medical staff and family members, while other tablets will be mobile and used to monitor patients from the nurse station, to provide palliative care services to avoid prolonged potential exposure to COVID-19.

 

  • Family Practice and Counseling Network, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was awarded $206,763 for a telehealth platform and remote monitoring equipment to provide integrated telehealth and remote monitoring services to vulnerable patient populations, such as patients with multiple chronic diseases, pregnant women, and those affected directly by COVID-19.
  • Finger Lakes Migrant Health Care Project, in Penn Yan, New York, was awarded $582,491 for laptop computers, tablets, telehealth video equipment, remote monitoring equipment, and network upgrades to assist in screening, testing, and treatment for COVID-19 patients in eight counties, as well as to provide ongoing critical services to patients throughout the pandemic by greatly increasing the amount of services provided through remote telehealth capabilities.
  • Frontier Behavioral Health, in Spokane, Washington, was awarded $197,387 for laptop computers, smartphones, monitors, telehealth equipment, internet access service, and software licenses so clinicians can provide interactive telehealth services with patients via phone and video to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission while maintaining access to health care services.
  • Gardner Health Services, in San Jose, California, was awarded $398,852 for laptop computers, video conferencing equipment, smartphones, mobile hotspots, and network upgrades to expand telehealth capacity and allow 80 medical, mental health and dental providers to offer remote services from home and clinic locations to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  • George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, in Washington, D.C., was awarded $817,248 for a patient telemedicine platform, laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment and licenses, connected diagnostic and examination equipment, videoconferencing equipment, and other software licenses to provide video consultation for possible COVID-19 positive patients, to offer remote monitoring of patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 discharged from both outpatient services and the hospital, to conduct in-home testing for COVID-19 for high-risk patients, and to treat acute and chronic non-COVID-19 patients with telehealth.
  • Greene County Health Care, in Snow Hill, North Carolina, was awarded $948,576 for remote monitoring and diagnostic equipment and a telehealth platform subscription to provide COVID-19 screenings using interactive voice recognition, as well as to monitor patients remotely using connected devices and to evaluate the monitoring data for abnormal readings and follow up care.

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