FCC APPROVES ELEVENTH SET OF COVID-19 TELEHEALTH PROGRAM APPLICATIONS

The following is a press release issued by the Federal Communications Commission on June 17, 2020

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau today approved an additional 62 funding applications for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program. Health care providers in both urban and rural areas of the country will use this $23.25 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 367 funding applications in 45 states plus Washington, D.C. for a total of $128.23 million in funding.

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

• Agape Health Services, in Washington, North Carolina, was awarded $600,583 for laptop computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and videoconferencing software licenses that will be used to screen high risk patients for COVID-19 and other diseases, remotely monitor vital signs, and facilitate the home diagnosis, assessment and treatment of patients with a monitored telehealth system for each patient and family.
• Atlantic General Hospital, in Berlin, Maryland, was awarded $515,449 for a patient engagement telehealth platform that provides acute care patient services on a mobile device, such as appointment preparation, education, discharge planning and family notification, and any post-appointment follow-up activities including transmitting prescriptions and test or lab results.
• Baptist Health Hospital, in Louisville, Kentucky, was awarded $873,982 for a remote telehealth platform, telemedicine carts, computers, tablets, remote monitoring equipment, and videoconferencing equipment to expand the telehealth program at eight Kentucky hospitals and treat COVID-19 patients entirely with specially designed carts that connect critical care physicians remotely to patients without risking further virus spread.
• Baptist Hospital of Miami, in Miami, Florida, was awarded $1,000,000 for telemedicine carts, videoconferencing equipment and software licenses, and tablets to address the COVID-19 crisis by expanding telehealth intensive care units and by deploying video conferencing for patient consults to reduce in-person care and prevent the spread of the virus.

Click here to view the FCC's press release which has the full list of approved telehealth funding.